THE RED LIBRARY | 


|THE WAY HOME 


> 
2 
< 
2 
[22] 
He LO} 
Pal 
Bid 
ae 
xn 
2a 
Aw 
<)>) 
joa 
SZ 
5 
a 


THE WAY HOME 


BY 


D. L. MOODY 


Iam the Way, . . . . No mancometh unto the 
Father, but by Me.—John 14:6. 


CHICAGO NEW YORK TORONTO 


FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 
LONDON AND EDINBURGH 


Copyright, 1904, 
The Bible Institute Colportage / 
Chicago. x 


PREFACE. 


For some time before my father was taken from 
our midst, it had been his purpose to collect a number 
of his more directly Gospel addresses for publication 
in book form. Now, after more than four years, the 
compilation has been made by Mr. A. P. Fitt, who 
assisted my father in several similar lines of work. It 
was his earnest desire that this new book might be 
the means of bringing men to a knowledge of God as 
Father, and he proposed to call it “The Way Home.” 

It is our sincere prayer that in this new book there 
may be realized the fact that “he, being dead, yet 
speaketh,” and (as ever of old) with zeal to bring 
men to a knowledge of God through Jesus Christ, 
our Lord. 

W. R. Moopy. 
E. Northficld, Mass. 


313374 


CONTENTS. — 


— 


. CHRIST’S BOUNDLESS Compassion 
i: Wuat SALVATION Ish eh aa 


THE WAY HOME. 


CHRIST’S BOUNDLESS COMPASSION. 


And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion 
toward them, and He healed their sick.—Matthew 14:14. 


Ir is often recorded in Scripture that Jesus was moved 
by compassion. We are told in this verse that after 
the disciples of John had come to Him and told Him 
that their master had been beheaded, that he had been 
put to a cruel death, He went out into a desert place, 
and the multitude followed Him, and that when He 
saw the multitude He had “compassion” on them, and 
healed their sick. 

lf He were here to-night in person, standing in my 
place, His heart would be moved as He looked down 
into your faces, because He could also look into your 
hearts and could read the burdens and troubles and 


)- sorrows you have to bear. They are hidden from my 


« 
& 
Wa eye, but He knows all about them. When the multi- 


Ved 


' tude-gathered round about Him, He knew how many 
“weary broken and aching hearts there were there. 


| | And He is here to-night, although we cannot see Him 


’ 


with the bodily eye, and there is not a sorrow, or 
trouble, or affliction which any of you are enduring but 
He knows all about it; and He is the same to-night as 
He was when here upon earth—the same Jesus, the 
same Man of compassion. 

When He saw that multitude He had compassion 
on them, and healed their sick. I hope He will heal 
a great many sin-sick souls here, and will bind up a 
great many broken hearts. There is no heart so bruised 
and broken but the Son of God will have compassion 
upon you, if you will let Him. “He will not break a 
bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax.” He came 


313374 


6 THE WAY HOME. 


into the woria to bring mercy, and joy, and compassion, 
and love. é 
If I were an artist I should like to draw some pic- 


tures to-night, and put before you that great multi-- 


tude on which He had compassion. I would draw an- 
other painting of that man coming to Him full of 
leprosy, full of it from head to foot. There he was, 
banished from his home, banished. from his friends, 
and he comes to Jesus with his sad and miserable story. 
And now, my friends, let us 


MAKE THE BIBLE STORIES REAL, 


for that is what they are. 

Think of that man. Think how much he had suf- 
fered. JI don’t know how many years he had been 
away from his wife and children and home; but there 
he was. He had put on a strange and particular garb, 
so that anybody coming near him might know that he 
was unclean. When he saw anyone approaching him, 
he had to raise the warning cry, “Unclean! unclean! 
unclean!” Aye, and if the wife of his bosom were to 
come out to tell him that a beloved child was sick 
and dying, he durst not come near her, he was obliged 
to fly. He might hear her voice at a distance, but he 
could not be there to see his child in its last dying 
moments. He was, as it were, in a living sepulchre; it 
was worse than death! There he was, dying by inches, 
an outcast from everybody and everything, and not 
a hand put out to relieve him. Oh, what a terrible 
life! 


saw him, the Bible says He was moved with compas- 
sion. He had a heart that beat in sympathy with the 
poor leper, He had compassion on him. The man 
came to Him, and said, 

“Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean!” 

He knew there was no one to do it but the Son of 
God Himself. 

The great heart of Christ was moved with compas- 


om 


Then think of him coming to Christ, and when Christ 


CHRIST’S BOUNDLESS COMPASSION. 4 


sion towards him. Hear the gracious words that fell 
from His lips— 

“T will; be thou clean!” 

The leprosy fled, and the man was made whole im- 
mediately. 

Look at him now on his way back home to his 

wife and children and friends! No longer an out- 
cast, no longer a loathsome thing, no longer cursed 
with that terrible leprous disease, but going back to his 
friends rejoicing. 
_ Now, my friends, you may say you pity a man who 
was that bad off, but did it ever strike you that you 
are a thousand times worse off? The leprosy of the 
soul is far worse than the leprosy of the body. I would 
rather a thousand times have my body full of leprosy 
than go down to hell with my soul full of sin. A good 
deal better that this right hand of mine were lopped 
off, that this right foot should decay, and that I should 
go halt and lame and blind all the days of my life, 
than be banished from God by the leprosy of sin. 
Hear the wailing and the agony and the woe that is 
going up from this earth caused by sin! If there is 
one poor sin-sick soul filled with leprosy here to-night, 
if you come to Christ He will have compassion on you, 
and say, as He did to that man, 

“T will; be thou clean.” 


THE DEAD RAISED. 


Well, now we come to the next picture that repre- 
sents Him as moved with compassion. 

Look into that little home at Nain. There is a 
poor widow sitting there. Perhaps a few months 
before she had buried her husband, but she has an 
only son left. How she dotes upon him! She looks 
to him to be her stay and her support and friend in 
her old age. She loves him far better than her own 
life-blood. But see, at last sickness enters the dwell- 
ing, and death comes with it, and lays his ice-cold 


8 THE WAY HOME. 


hand upon the young man. You can see that widowed _ 
mother watching over him day and night; but at last 
those eyes are closed, and that loved voice is hushed, — 
she thinks, for ever. She will never see or hear him 

more after he is buried out of her sight. pe 

And so the hour comes for his burial. Many of 
you have been in the house of mourning, and have 
been with your friends when they have gone to the 
grave and looked at the loved one for the last time. 
There is not one here, I dare say, who has not lost 
some beloved one. I never went to a funeral and 
saw a mother take the last look at her child but it 
has pierced my heart, and I could not keep back the 
tears at such a sight. 

Well, the mother kisses her only son on that poor, 
icy forehead. It is her last kiss, her last look, and 
the body is covered up, and they put him on the bier 
and start for the place of burial. She had a great 
many friends. The little town of Nain was moved 
at the sight of the widow’s only son being borne away. 

I see that great crowd as they come pushing out of 
the gates. Over yonder are thirteen men, weary, and 
dusty, and tired, and they have to stand by the way- 
side to let this great crowd pass by. The Son of God 
is in this. group, and the others with Him are His 
disciples. . 

He looked upon that scene, and saw the mother with - 
her broken heart; He saw it bleeding, crushed, and 
wounded, and it touched His heart. Yes, the great 
heart of the Son of God was moved with compassion, 
and He came up and touched the bier, and said, 


“YOUNG MAN, ARISE!” 


and the young man sat up. 

_ Ian see the multitude startled and astonished. I 
can see the widowed mother going back home rejoic- 

ing, with the morning rays of the resurrection shin- 

ing in her heart. Yes, He had compassion on her 


CHRIST’S BOUNDLESS COMPASSION. 9 


indeed! And there is not a widow in this hall but 
Christ’s voice will respond to your trouble and give 
you peace. Oh, dear friends, let me say to you whose 
hearts are aching, you need a friend like Jesus! He 
is just the friend the widow needs. He is just the 
friend every poor bleeding heart needs. He will have 
compassion on you, and will bind up your wounded, 
bleeding heart if you will only come to Him just as 
you are. He will receive you, without upbraiding 
or chastising, to His loving bosom, and say, “Peace, 
be still,’ and you can walk in the unclouded sunlight 
of His love from this night. Christ will be worth 
more to you than all the world besides. He is just 
the friend that all of you need; and I pray God you 
may every one of you know Him from this hour as 
your Saviour and friend. 


THE MAN WHO WAS ROBBED. 


The next picture which I shall show you to illus- 
trate Christ’s compassion is of the man that was going 
down to Jericho and fell among thieves. 

They had taken away his coat. They took his money, 
and stripped him, and left him half dead. Look at 
him wounded, bleeding, dying! And now comes down 
the road a priest, and he looks upon the scene. His 
heart might have been touched, but he was not moved 
with compassion enough to help the poor man. He 
might have said, “Poor fellow!” but he passed by on 
_the other side, and left him. 

_ After him came down a Levite, and perhaps he said, 
“Poor man!” but he was not moved with compassion 
to help him. 

_ Ah, there are a good many like that priest and 
Levite! Perhaps some of you coming down to this 
hall meet a drunkard reeling in the street, and just say 
“Poor fellow!” or it may be you laugh because he 
stammers out some foolish thing. We are very unlike 
the Son of God. 


10 THE WAY HOME. 


At last a Samaritan came down that way, and he 


looked on the man and had compassion on him! He 
got off his beast, took oil and poured it into the man’s 
wounds, bound them up, took him out of the ditch, 
helpless as he was, placed him on his own beast, 
brought him to an inn, and took care of him! 

That good Samaritan represents your Christ and 
mine. He came into the world to seek and to save 
that which was lost. 

Young man, have you come to the city, and fallen 
in with bad companions? Have they taken you to 
theatres and places of vice, and left you bleeding and 
wounded? Oh, come to-night to the Son of God, and 
He will have compassion on you, and take you off 
from the dunghill, and transform you, and lift you up 
into His kingdom, into the heights of His glory, if 
you will only let Him! I do not care who you are. 
I do not care what your past life may have been. He 
said to the poor woman caught in adultery, “Neither do 
I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” He had com- 
passion upon her, and He will have compassion on 
you. That man going down from Jerusalem to Jeri- 
cho represents thousands in our large cities, and that 
good Samaritan represents the Son of God. Young 
man, Jesus Christ has set His heart on saving you! 
Will your receive His love and compassion? Do 
not have such hard thoughts about the Son of God. 
Do not think He has come to condemn you. He has 
come to save you. 


AN UNGRATEFUL WRETCH. 


But I should like to draw another picture—that 
young man going away from his home that we read 
of in the 15th chapter of Luke; an ungrateful man, 
as ungrateful a wretch as ever one saw. He can not 
wait for his inheritance till his father is dead, he wants 
his share at once, and so he says to his father, 

“Give me the goods that belong to me.” 


CHRIST'S BOUNDLESS COMPASSION. II 


His good old father gives him the goods, and away 
he goes. 
- I can see him as he starts on his journey, full of 
pride, boastful and arrogant, going out to see life, off 
‘in grand style to some foreign country—say, going 
down to London. How many have gone to London, 
that being the far country to them, squandering all 
their money ! 

Yes, he is a popular young man as long as he has 
money. His friends last as long as his money lasts. A 
very popular young man, “hail-fellow-well-met” greets 
him everywhere. He always pays the liquor bill and 
cigars. Yes, he has plenty of friends! What grand 
folly! ; 

But when his money was gone, where were his 
friends? - Oh, you that serve the devil, you have a hard 
master! When the prodigal’s money was all gone, of 
course they laughed at him, and called him a fool; 
and so he was. 

What a blind, misguided young man he was! Just 
see what he lost. He lost his father’s home, his table 
and food, and testimony, and every comfort. He lost 
his work, except what he got down there while feeding 
swine. He was in an unlawful business. And that’s 
just what the backslider is doing; he is__ 


IN THE DEVIL’S PAY. 


You are losing your time and testimony. No one 
has any confidence in a backslider, for even the world 
despises such a character. 

This young man lost his testimony. Look at him 
amongst the swine! Some one in that far country 
comes along, and, beholding him, says, 

“Look at that miserable, wretched, dirty, barefooted 
fellow taking care of swine!” 

“Ah,” says the prodigal, “don’t talk to me like that. 
Why, my father’s a rich man, and has got servants 
better dressed than you are,” 


I2 THE WAY HOME. 


“Don’t tell me that!” says the other; “if you had hea 


such a father as that, | know very well he wouldn't 
own you.” 

No one would believe him. No one believes a back- 
slider. Let him talk about his enjoyment with God, 
nobody believes it. Oh, poor backslider, I pity you! 
You had better 


COME HOME AGAIN, 


Well, at last the poor prodigal comes to himself, 
and says, “I will arise and go to my father,’ and now 
he starts for home. Look at him as he goes along, 
pale and hungry, with his head down! His strength 
is exhausted, perhaps he is diseased in his frame, and 
so shattered that no one would know him. but his 
father. But love is keen to detect its object. The old 
man has often been longing for his return. 

I can see him many a night up on the house-top 
looking out to catch a glimpse of him. Many a long 
night he has wrestled in prayer with God that his 
prodigal son might come back. Everything he had 
heard from that far country told him his boy was 
going to ruin as fast as he could go. The old man 
spent much time in prayer for him. At last faith © 
begins to arise, and he says, 

“T believe God will send back my boy.” ? 

One day the old man sees afar off the long-lost boy. — 
He does not know him by his dress, but he detects his 
gait, and he says to himself, 

“Yes, that’s mv boy!” 

I see him pass down the stairs, he rushes along the 
highway, he is running! Ah! that is just like God. 
Many a time in the Bible God is represented as run- 
ning; He is in great haste to meet the backslider. Yes, 
the old man is running: he sees his son afar off, and 
he has compassion on him. 

The boy wanted to tell him his story, what he had 

‘done, and where he had been, but the old man could 


s Ae eee 8 ae Dot te ae = © te a 7 <~D 
EG ee — y 6 a { ay ate t. 
= REY "s 

x / 


CHRIST'S BOUNDLESS COMPASSION. 13 


not wait to hear him; his heart was filled with com- 
passion, and he took him to his loving bosom. The boy 


‘wanted to go down into the kitchen with the servants, 


but the old man would not let him. No, but he bade the 
servants put shoes on his feet, and a ring on his finger, 
and kill the fatted calf, and make merry. The prodigal 
has come home, the wanderer has returned, and the 
old man rejoices over his return. 

Oh, backslider, come home, and there will be joy in 
your heart and in the heart of God. May God bring 
the backsliders back to-night—this very hour! Say 
as the poor prodigal did, “I will arise and go to my 
father,” and on the authority of God I tell you God 
will receive you. He will blot out your sins, and 
restore you to His love, and you shall walk again in 


the light of His reconciled countenance. 


CHRIST WEEPING OVER JERUSALEM. 


But look again. Jesus comes to Mount Olivet. He 
is under the shadow of the cross. The city bursts 
upon him. Yonder is the temple. He sees it in 
all its grandeur and glory. The people are shouting, 
“Hosanna to the Son of David!” They are breaking 
off palm branches, and taking off their garments, and 
spreading them before Him, still shouting, “Hosanna 
to the Son of David!” and bowing down before Him. 
But He forgets it all. Yes, even Calvary with all its 
sorrow He forgets. Gethsemane lav there at the foot 
of the hill; He forgot it too. As He looked upon the 
city which He loved, the great heart of the Son of 
God was moved with compassion, and He cried aloud, 

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the proph- 
ets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how 
often would I have gathered thy children together, 
even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, 
and ye would not!” 

My friends, look at Him there weeping over Jerusa- 
lem! What a wonderful city it might have been! How 


14 THE WAY HOME. 


exalted to heaven it was! Oh, if they had only known 
the day of their visitation, and had received instead 
of rejected their king, what a blessing He would have 
been to them! Oh, poor backslider, behold the Lamb 
of God weeping over you, and crying to you to come 
to Him, and receive shelter and refuge from the storm 
which has yet to sweep over this earth! 


PETER’S DENIAL. 


Now look at poor Peter. He denied the Lord, arid 
swore he hever knew Him. If ever Jesus needed 
sympathy, if ever He needed His disciples round Him, 
it was that night when they were bringing false wit- 
nesses against Him, that He might be condemned to 
death; and there was Peter, one of His foremost dis- 
ciples, swearing he never knew Him. He might have 
turned on Peter and said, 

“Peter, is it true you don’t know Me? Is it true 
you have forgotten how I cured and healed your 
wife’s mother when she lay at the point of death? Is 
it true you have forgotten how I caught you up when 
you were sinking in the sea? Is it true, Peter, you 
have forgotten how you were with Me on the mount — 
of transfiguration, when heaven and earth came to- 
gether, and you heard God’s voice speaking from the 
clouds? Is it true you have forgotten that mountain — 
scene when you wanted to build the three tabernacles ? 
Is it true, Peter, you have forgotten Me?” 

Yes, thus He might have taunted poor Peter; but 
instead of that He just gave him one look of compas- 
sion that broke his heart, and Peter went out and wept 
bitterly. 


THE PERSECUTING SAUL. 


Again, look at that bold blasphemer and persecutor 
who is going to stamp out the early church, and is 
breathing out threatenings and slaughter. when Christ 


A ee ie 4 fe 
5 ml Fart 
vu 
. “om 
> 
« 


CHRIST'S BOUNDLESS COMPASSION. 15 


meets him on his way to Damascus. It is the same 
Jesus still. Listen, and hear what he says— 

“Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” 

He could have smitten him to the earth with a look 
or a breath; but instead of that, the heart of the Son 
of God is moved with compassion, and He cries out, 

“Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” 

If there is a persecutor here to-night, I would ask 
you, “Why persecute Jesus?” He loves you, sinner; 
He loves you, persecutor! You never received any- 
thing but goodness and kindness and love from Him. 

Saul cried out, “Who art thou?” 

And He answered, “I am Jesus whom thou perse- 
cutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. 
It is hard to fight against such a loving friend, to 
contend against one who loves you as I do.” 

Down went the proud, persecuting Saul upon his 


- face, and he cried out, 


“Tord, what wouldst Thou have me to do?” 

And the Lord told him, and he went and did it. 

May the Lord have compassion upon the infidel, and 
skeptic, and persecutor here! Let me ask you, my 
friend, Is there any reason why you should hate Christ, 
or why your heart should be turned against Him? 


“WHY DON’T YOU LOVE JESUS?” 


I remember a story about a teacher telling her schol- 
ars all to follow Jesus, and how they might all be 
missionaries, and go out to work for others. One day 
one of the smallest came to her, and said, 

“T asked such and such a one to come with me, and 
she said she would like to come, but her father was 
an infidel.” " 

The young child wanted to know what an infidel 
was, and the teacher went on to explain it to her. 

One day, when she was on her way to school, this 
infidel was coming out of the post-office with his let- 


ae 


16 HE WAY HOME. 


ters in his hand, when the child ran up to him, and 
said, 
“Why don’t you love Jesus?” 


He thought at first to push her aside, but the child 


pressed it home again— 
* “Why don’t you love Jesus?” 

If it had been a man, the infidel would have resented 
it; but he did not know what to do with the child. 
With tears in Ler eyes she asked him again, 

“Oh! please, tell me, why don’t you love Jesus?” 

He went on to his office, but he felt as if every letter 
he opened read—‘‘Why don’t you love Jesus?” He 


attempted to write, with the same result; every letter 


seemed to ask him, ““Why don’t you love Jesus?” He 
threw down his pen in despair, and went out of his 
office, but he could not get rid of the question; it was 
asked by a still small voice within. As he walked 
along it seemed as if the very ground and the very 
heavens whispered to him, “Why don’t you love 
Jesus?” j 

At last he went home, and there it seemed as if his 
own children asked him the question, so he said to his 
wife, “I will go to bed early to-night,” thinking to 
sleep it away; but when he laid his head on the pillow 
it seemed as if the pillow whispered it to him. So he 
got up about midnight, and said, 2 

“T can find out where Christ contradicts Himself, 
and I’ll search it out and prove Him a liar.” 

~ Well, he got up, and turned to the Gospel of Joba: 
and read on from the beginning until he came to the 
words, 

“God so loved the world, that He gave His only 
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should 
not perish, but have everlasting life.” 

“What love!” he thought; and at last the old infidel’: 's 
heart was stirred. He could find no reason for not 
loving Jesus, and down he went on his knees and 
pa and before the sun rose he was in the kingdom 
(e) ce] 


T 


p ‘ 


i 


CHRIST’S BOUNDLESS COMPASSION. 17 


I will challenge any one on the face of the earth to 
find any reason for not loving Christ. It is only here 
on earth men think they have a reason for not doing so. 
In heaven they know Him, and they sing, “Worthy is 
the Lamb that was slain!” Oh, sinner, if you knew 
Him you would have no wish to find a reason for not 
loving Him! He is “the chiefest among ten thousand, 
and altogether lovely.” 


A QUESTION. 


I can imagine some one saying, “I should like very 
much to become a Christian, and I should like to know 
how I can come to Him, and be saved.” 

Come to Him as a personal friend. For years I 
have made this arule. Christ is just as habitually near, 
as personally present to me as any other person liv- 
ing; and when I have any troubles, trials and afflic- 
tions, I go to Him with them. When I want coun- 
sel I go to Him, just as if I could talk face to face 
with Him. Twenty years ago God met me and took 
me to His bosom, and I would sooner give up my life 
to-night than give up Christ, or that I should leave 
Him, or that He should leave me, and that I should 


‘have no one to bear my burdens, or tell my sorrows 


to. He is worth more than all the world beside. 
And to-night He will have compassion upon you as 
He had upon me. I tried for weeks to find a way 
to Him, and I just went and laid my burden upon 
Him, and then He revealed Himself to me, and I 
have ever since found Him a true and sympathizing 
friend, just the friend you need. Go right straight 
to Him! You need not go to this man or that man, 
to this church or that church. “I am the Way, the 
Truth, and the Life,” said Jesus. 

There is no name so dear to Americans as that of 
Abraham Lincoln. Do you want to know the reason 
why? I will tell you. He was a man of compassion. 
He my very gentle, and was noted for his heart of 


18 THE WAY HOME. Bag! 


sympathy for the down-trodden and the poor. No orle vy 


went to him with a tale of sympathy but he had com 
passion on them, no matter how far down they were 


in the scale of society. He always took an interest in ; 


the poor. A 


There was a time in our history when we thought — 


he had too much compassion. Many of our soldiers 
did not understand army discipline, and a great many 
were not true to the army regulations. They intended 


to be, but they did not understand them. Many men ~ 


consequently went wrong, and they were court-mar- 
tialed and condemend to be shot; but Abraham Lin- 
coln would always pardon them. At length the nation 
rose up against him, and said that he was too merci- 
ful, and ultimately they got him to give out that if a 


man was court-martialed he must be shot, that there — 


would be no more reprieves. 

A few weeks after this, news came that a young 
soldier had been sleeping at his post. He was court- 
martialed, and condemned to be shot. ‘The boy wrote 
to his mother, 

“T do not want you to think I do not love my coun- 
try, but it came about in this way: My comrade was 


sick, and I went out on picket for him. The next — 


night he ought to have come, but being still sick I 
went out for him again, and without intending it I 
fell asleep. I did not intend to be disloyal.” 

It was a very touching letter. The mother and 
father said there was no chance for him, there were 


~ 


to be no more reprieves. But there was a little girl — 
in that home, and she knew that Abraham Lincoln ~ 


had a little boy, and how he loved that boy; and she 
thought if Abraham Lincoln knew how her father and 
mother loved her brother he would never allow him 
to be shot. So she took the train to go and plead for 
her brother. is 

When she got to the president’s mansion, the diffi- 
culty arose how was she to get past the sentinel. She 
told him her story, and the tears ran down his cheeks, 


CHRIST’S BOUNDLESS COMPASSION. 19 


and he let her pass. But the next trouble was how to 


_ get past the secretary and the other officials. How- 


ever, she succeeded in getting, unobstructed, into 
Lincoln’s private room, and there were the senators 
and ministers busy with state affairs. 

The president saw the child, and called her to him, 
and said, 

“My child, what can I do for you?” 

She told him her story. The big tears rolled down 
his cheeks. He was a father, and his heart was 
full; he could not stand it. He treated the girl with 
kindness, reprieved the boy, gave him thirty days fur- 
lough, and sent him home to see his mother. His 
heart was full of compassion. 

Let me tell you, Christ’s heart is more full of com- 
passion than any man’s. You are condemned to die 
for your sins; but if you go to Him He will say, 
“Loose him, and let him go.” He will rebuke Satan. 
Go to Him as that little girl went to the president, 
and tell Him all. Keep nothing from Him, and He 
will say, “Go in peace.” 


THE TOUCH OF COMPASSION. 


Did you ever feel the touch of the hand of Jesus? 
If so, you will know it again, for there is love in it. 
There is a story told in connection with our war 
of a mother who received a dispatch that her boy 
was mortally wounded. She went down to the front, 
as she knew that those soldiers told off to watch 
the sick and wounded could not watch her boy as she 
would. So she went to the doctor, and said, 
“Would you like me to take care of my boy?” 
The doctor said, “We have just let him go to sleep, 
and if you go to him the surprise will be so great it 


might be dangerous to him. He is in a very critical 


state. I will break the news to him gradually.” 
“But,” said the mother, “he may never wake up. 


I should so dearly like to see him.” 


20 THE WAY HOME. 


Finally the doctor said, “You can see him, but if 
you wake him up and he dies, it will be your fault.” 
“Well,” she said, “I will not wake him up if I may 

only go to his dying cot and see him.” . 

She went to the side of the cot. Her eyes had 
longed to see him. As she gazed upon him she could 
not keep her hand off that pallid forehead, and she 
laid it gently there. There was love and sympathy 
in that hand, and the moment the slumbering boy 
felt it, he said, 

“Oh, mother, have you come?” 

He knew there was sympathy and affection in the 
touch of that hand., And if you, oh sinner, will let 
Jesus reach out His hand and touch your heart, you 
too will find there is sympathy and love in it. That 
every lost soul here may be saved, and come to the 
arms of our blessed Saviour, is the prayer of my 
heart ! 


WHAT SALVATION IS. 


I BELIEVE this is a crisis in the history of a good many 
in this hall to-night. Thousands are just halting and 
wavering; they are almost persuaded. Many have 
come saying to themselves, “I don’t want to go away 
without Christ; I want to be saved to-night.” Well, 
I shall not preach a sermon to-night. I have just one 
thought, and that is to tell every anxious soul ‘what 
they must do to be saved. That is the first question 
of every one who is honestly and really inquiring 
“the way of salvation,’ and, God helping me, I will 
try to make it plain to all. 


BELIEVING. 


If I say to you, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,” 
you will reply, “Oh, believe! I have heard that word 
till I am sick and tired of it. Scarcely a week but I 
hear it in the church or at a prayer-meeting.” 

You have all heard it over and over again. I don’t 
suppose there is a child here over five years of age 
but can repeat that text. What you want is to know 
how to believe—what it is to believe. 

Some of you say, “We all believe that Christ came 
into the world to seek and to save the lost; and that 
he that believeth shall be saved.” 

But the devils believe, and are not saved. Aye, 
they believe and tremble! You must believe on the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and not merely about Him, and 
then you will know what salvation is. 


RECEIVING. 


We'll take another word which means the same 
thing; perhaps you'll get hold of it better. “He came 
unto His own, and His own recetved Him not. But 
as many as received Him, to them gave He power to 


71 


22 THE WAY HOME. 


become the sons of God, even to them that believe on 
His name.’ 
Bear in mind, “received Him.’ ‘'That’s it: not re- 


_ ceived a doctrine or a belief, but received Him. Itis 


a Person we must receive. 
My experience is that we all want to have the power 
before we receive Christ; that is, we want to feel we 


are in Christ before we will receive Him. But we 


cannot love God and feel His presence until we have 
received Him into our hearts. It is just like a boy 
with a ball. He throws it to you. Well, you must 
catch it before you can throw it back again. The 


real meaning of “believe” is “receive”—receive Christ 


as yours. I don’t know any verse in the Bible that 
God has blessed to more souls than John 1:12: “But 
as many as received Him, to them gave He power.” 


I don’t know of any better illustration I could have 


than matrimony. The Bible uses it, and if God uses 
it in His Word, why should not I? In the Old Testa- 
ment God says: “] am married tinto you.” (Jeremiah 
3:14.) Jesus Himself uses the illustration when He 
speaks of the bride in John 3:29. Paul uses it in 
his epistles, as in Romans 7: 4, as an illustration of 
the union between Christ and His church. 

Now, it is an illustration you can all understand; 


_ there is no one here but knows what it means. When 


a man offers himself, the woman must do either of 


two things—either receive or reject him. So every — 


soul in this hall must do one of these two things— 


“receive” or “reject” Christ. If you receive Him, | 


that is all you have to do, He has promised you power 
to become a child of God. 


THE RICH HUSBAND. 


7 


There was a shop-girl in Chicago, a few years ago. 
One day she could not have bought a dollar’s worth 
of anything; the next day she could go and buy a 
thousand dollars’ worth~of whatever she wanted. 


f 


. 


* 


WHAT SALVATION IS 23 


What made the difference? Why, she had married a 
rich husband; that was all. She had received him, 
and of course all he had became hers. And so you 
can have power if you only receive Christ. Remember, 
you can have no power without Him. You will fail, 
fail constantly, until you receive Him into your heart. 
And I have Scripture authority to say that Christ will 
receive every soul that will only come to Him. 


SEEKING A WIFE. 


Abraham sent his servant Eliezer a long journey 
to get a wife for his son Isaac. When Eliezer had 
got Rebekah, he wanted to be up and off with the 
young bride; but her mother and brother said, 

“No, she shall wait awhile.” 

When Eliezer was determined to go, they said, 

“We will inquire of the damsel.” 

. When Rebekah appeared, they asked her, 

“Wilt thou go with this man?” 

That was a crisis in her life. She could have said 
“No.” Undoubtedly it cost her an effort; it would, of 
course, be a struggle. She had to give up her par- 
ents, her home, her companions, all that she loved, 
and go with this stranger. But look at her reply! She 
said, 

“T will go.” ‘ 

I have come to-night to get a bride for my Master. 
“Wilt thou go with this man?” I can tell you one 
thing that Eliezer could not tell Rebekah; he could 
not say, “Isaac loves you.” Isaac had never seen his 
bride. But I can say, “My Master loves you! He 
gave Himself for you.” Ah, that is love! 

But bear in mind, my friend, that the moment Re- 
bekah made up her mind to accept Isaac he became 
everything to her, so that she did not feel she was 
giving up anything for him. Ah, what a mistake 
some people make! They say, “I’d like to become a 
Christian if I hadn’t to give up so much.” Just turn 


24 THE WAY HOME. 


round and look at the other side. You don’t have to_ 
give up anything—you have simply to receive; and 
when you have received Christ, everything else van-— 
ishes away pretty quick. Christ fills you, so that you 
don’t feel these things to be worth a thought. 3 

When a bride marries a man, it is generally love 
that prompts her. If any one is here that really loves 
a man, is she thinking of how much she will have to 
give up? No; that wouldn’t be love. Love doesn’t 
feed upon itself, it feeds upon the person who is loved. 
So, my friends, it is not by looking at what you will 
have to give up, but by looking at what you will re- 
ceive, that you will be enabled to accept the Saviour. 


WHAT IS CHRIST TO YOU? 


What is He willing to be to you, if you will have 
Him? Won’t you be made heirs of heaven, joint- 
heirs. with Christ—to reign with Him for ever and 
ever—to be His—to be with Him where He is—to 
be what He is? Think; then, of what He is, and of 
what He gives. You don’t need to trouble yourselves 
at present about what you have to give up. Receive 
Him, and all these things will appear utterly insig- 
. nificant. 

I used to think of what I would have to give up. 
I dearly loved many of the pleasures of this earth, 
but now I’d as soon go out into your streets and eat 
the dirt as do those things. God doesn’t say, “Give 
up this and that.” He says, “Here is the Son of My 
bosom—receive Him.” When you do receive Him, 
everything else goes. Stop that talk about giving up! 
Let Christ save you, and all these things will go for 
nothing. 


NO REGRETS. 
Did you ever know a man or woman who regretted 


receiving Him? No man ever regretted receiving 
Christ; but I have heard of thousands who have been 


WHAT SALVATION Is. 25 


followers of the devil, and have regretted it bitterly. 
And I notice that it is always the most faithful fol- 
lowers of the devil who are regretting it most. 

My friends, accept my advice, and take Jesus with 
you when you leave this hall. Remember, He is the 
gift of God offered to whosoever will take Him. You 
belong to that class, don’t you? Just take Him; that’s 
the first thing you have to do. When you go fo cut 
down a tree, you don’t take the axe and commence to 
hew down the branches. No, you begin right down 
at the root. So here, you must take Christ, and then 
you will get power to resist the world, the flesh, and 
the devil. 


RUTH AND ORPAH. 


Now another case—Ruth and Orpah. Many are 
like these two young widows. A crisis had come in 
their lives ; they had lost their husbands, and had been 
living up there in the mountains of Moab. Often had 
they visited the graves of their dear ones, and perhaps 
planted a few flowers there, and watered them with 
their tears. 

Naomi is about to return to her native land, and 
they think they will go'a bit of the road with her. It 
is a sad parting; but now the-crisis comes. Down 
in the valley they embrace each other, and give the 
parting kiss. Then they both say they will go with 
Naomi, but she warns them of the difficulties and the 
trials which might await them. So Orpah says, “I 

- will go back to my people”; but Ruth cannot leave her 
mother, and says she will go with her. 

Orpah turns back alone. I can see her on the top 
of the hill. She stops, and turns round for a last look. 
And Naomi says to Ruth, 

“Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back to her peo- 
ple, and unto her gods; return thou after thy sister- 
in-law.” 

What does Ruth say? “Entreat me not to leave 
thee, or to return from following after thee; for 


26 THE WAY HOME. 


whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, oF 


I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy 
God my God.” , 
A BLESSED DECISION. 


Orpah loved Naomi, but not enough to leave all 
for her; Ruth loved her mother-in-law so much that 
the leaving of her people seemed nothing to her. Oh, 
may God draw out all your hearts so that you may 
leave all and follow Him! 

We never hear any more of Orpah; the curtain 
falls upon her life. Perhaps she died away up in the 
mountains of Moab, without God and without hope. 
But how different with Ruth! She becomes famous in — 
history. She is one of the few women whose names 
have come along down the roll of ages; and she is 
brought into the royal line of heaven. I have an idea 
that God blessed her for that decision. And He will 
bless you if you decide in a like manner. Who will 
say to-night, as Ruth did, “I will follow thee; and 
thy God shall be my God”? Will anyone take up 
the language of Ruth? Is there not a Ruth here? 
If there is, the Master is calling. 


TRUSTING. 


I’ll take another word. I have been speaking of 
“receive.” The next word I call your attention to is — 
“trust.” Many get hold of that when they cannot get 
hold of “believe” or “receive.” 

You all know what it is to trust. If it were not 
for trust, there would be a terrible commotion in this 
building to-night. If you could not trust that the roof 


_was firmly put up, you would get out pretty quick. Ii — 


you could not trust these chairs to support you, how 
long would you sit on them? You wouldn’t have come 
here at all if you didn’t trust our word that there would 
be an address. Now, it is just the same trust that God 
wants. It is no miraculous trust or faith, but just the 


WHAT SALVATION Is. 27 


satue kind, only the object is different. Instead of 
trusting in these earthly things, or in an arm of flesh, 
you are asked to trust in the Son of God. 


THE DUBLIN MERCHANT. 


In Dublin I was once speaking to a lady in the 
inquiry-room, when I noticed a gentleman walking up 
and down before the door. I went forward, and said, 

“Are you a Christian ?” 

He was very angry, and turned on his heel and left 
me. 

The following Sunday night I was preaching about 
“receiving,” and I put the question, ‘““Who’ll receive 
Him now?” ‘That young man was present, and the 
question sank into his heart. 

The next day he called upon me—he was a merchant 
in that city—and said, 

“Do you remember me?” 

“No, I don’t.” 

“Do you remember the young man who answered 
you so roughly the other night?” 

-xes, 1 'do.” 

“Well, I’ve come to tell you I am saved.” 

“How did it happen?” 

“Why, I was listening to your sermon last night, 
and when you asked, ‘Who'll receive Him now?’ God 
put it into my heart to say, ‘I will’; and He has opened 
my eyes to see His Son now.” 

I don’t know why thousands should not do that here 
to-night. If you are ever to be saved, why not now? 


A FREE GIFT. 


But another point you must remember—salvation is 
a free gift, and it is a free gift for us. Can you buy 
it? No, it is a free gift, presented to whosoever will 
receive it. 

Suppose I were to say, I will give this Bible to 


28 THE WAY HOME. 


“whosoever” wants it; what have you got tedo? Why, ~ 
nothing but take it. But a man comes forward, and 
says, 

“T’d like that Bible very much.” 

“Well, didn’t I say ‘whosoever’ ?” 

Mess soit a. like to have you say i) name.” 

“Well, here it is.’ 

Still he keeps eyeing the Bible, and saying, “I’d 
like to have that Bible; “but I’d like to give you some- 
thing for it. I don’t like to take it for nothing.” 

“My friend, I am not here to sell Bibles; take it, if 
you want it.” 

“Well, I want it; but I’d like to give you something 
for it. Let me give you a cent for it; though, to be 
sure, it’s worth three or four dollars.” 

Suppose I take the penny. The man takes up the 
Bible and marches away home with it. His wife says, 

“Where did you get that Bible?” 

“Oh, I bought it.” 

Mark the point: when he gives the penny it ceases 
to be a gift. So with salvation. If you were to pay 
ever so little, it would not be a gift. 


THE USELESSNESS OF TRYING. 


Man is always trying to do something. This miser- 
able word “try” is keeping thousands out of heaven. 
When I hear men speak of “trying,” I generally tell 
them it is the way down to death and hell. I believe 
more souls are lost through “trying” than any other 
way. You have often tried, and as often failed; and 
as long as you keep trying you will fail. Drop that 
word, then, and take as your sure foothold for eternity, 
‘trast.”” “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him”; 
that is the right kind of trust. Would to God that 
you would all say, “I will trust Him now, to-night”! 
Did you ever hear of any one going down to hell 
trusting in Jesus? I never did. This very night, if 
you commit yourself to Him, the battle will be over, 


7 


WHAT SALVATION IS. 29 


You are complaining you don’t feel better. Well, 
remember, the child must be born before it canbe 
taught. So we cannot learn of God until we receive 
Him. We must be born—born again—have the new 
birth, ere we can feel. Christ must be in us the hope 
of glory. How can He be in us if we don’t receive 

, Him and trust Him? 


PRESENT SALVATION. : 


Another verse that has been used a great deal, and 
I rest my own salvation on it, is John 5:24. I trust 
God will write it on your hearts, and burn it down into 
your souls. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that 
heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, 
hath everlasting life.’ Thank God for that “hath”! 

I had a few men in the inquiry-room one night who 
could not find peace. I said, 

“Do you believe the Bible?” 

eVies. sit.” 

“T think I will prove you don’t. Turn up John 5: 24.” 

They turned it up. 

“Read the verse.” 

“*He that heareth My Word— ” 

“You believe that ?” 

-“Ves, sir.” 

“And believeth on Him that sent me’—you believe 
God sent Jesus ?” 

<Vies:” 

“Well, read on.” 

““Hath everlasting life. 

“You believe you have everlasting life?” 

“No, we don’t.” 

“Oh, I thought you didn’t believe the Bible! What 
right have you to cut a verse in two, and say you be- 
lieve the one half, but not the other? It plainly says 
that he who believes ‘hath everlasting life, and shall not 
come into condemnation ; but is passed from death unto 
life.’ If you believe God’s words, you can say, ‘I have 


299 


30 THE WAY HOME. 


passed from darkness into light.’ Just by resting on 
that one little word in the present tense we may have =—— 
assurance now. We don’t need wait till we die, and 
till the great day of judgment, to find it out.” 


“TAKE, TAKE!” 


A lady in Glasgow came to me, and said, “Mr. 
Moody, you are always saying ‘Take, take!’ Is there 
any place in the Bible where it says ‘Take,’ or is it 
only a word you use? I have been looking in the Bible 
for it, but cannot see it.” 

“Why,” I said, “the Bible is sealed with it; it is 
almost the last word in the Bible. ‘And the Spirit 
and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth © 
say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And 
whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.’ ” 

“Well,” she said, “I never saw that before. Is that 
all IT have to do?” 

“Yes, the Bible says so.” ' 

And she took it, just there. God says, “Let him 
take”; who can stop us if God says it? All the devils 
in hell cannot hinder a poor soul from taking, if God 
says “Take.” My friends are you going to “take” 
Christ to-night? Are you going to let these meetings 
pass without being able to look up and say, “Christ is 
my Saviour, God is my Father, heaven is my home”? 


AN ANXIOUS INQUIRER. 


A lady came to my house one night, anxious about” 
her soul; but after some conversation she left without 
finding peace. She came again, and I asked, 

“What is the trouble?” 

“T haven’t got peace.” 

I took her to this verse, ““He that believeth on the 
Son hath everlasting life.” (John 3:36.) I just held 
up that little word “hath” to her, and turned also to 
John 5:24, and 6:47. There these words were spoken 


WHAT SALVATION IS. __ 31 


by Jesus, and are all linked on to believing on the Son. 
After we had talked for some time, she looked in my 
face earnestly, and said, “I have got it!” and went 
away rejoicing in the Saviour’s love. 

If you seek life you can have it now, as you sit 
upon your seat. The word “hath” occurs again in 
Isa. 53:6: “All we like sheep have gone astray ; . 
and the Lord aru laid on Him the iniquity of 
us all.” Our iniquity has been laid upon Christ, and 
God is not going to demand payment twice. ‘‘Who 
His own self bare our sins in His own body on the 
tree.” 


THE DEBT PAID. 


Suppose I owe a man a thousand dollars and become 
a bankrupt; I have nothing to pay, so he might send 


‘me to prison. But suppose a friend hears of it, and 


says, “I don’t want to see Moody taken to prison,” 
So he pays the debt for me, and gets the receipt. When 
I see the receipt, I know that I am free. But the man 
finds out that I didn’t pay it, and gets me hauled off 
to court. He says I must pay it myself, or go to prison. 
I show the receipt. 

“Why,” says the judge, “the debt is paid.” 

The man says, “Moody didn’t pay it.” 

Would any judge in the land support him? No; 
the debt is paid, and cannot be demanded again. And 
if man don’t ask payment twice, will God? No, cer- 
tainly not! The case is this: the debt has been paid, 
our sins have been atoned for, Christ Himself has 
redeemed us, not with corruptible things such as silver 
and gold, but with His precious blood; therefore we 
are free! 

But remember, although, salvation is so free for us, 
it cost God a great deal to redeem us. He had an only 
Son, and He gave Him up freely for us. What a 
wonderful gift! If you make light of so great a salva- 
tion how can you escape the damnation of hell? 


32 THE WAY HOME. 


THE GREAT QUESTION. 


Now, one question: What are you going to do with — | 


Christ? You have got to settle that question. You 
may get angry, like a man a short time ago, who 
marched out of a church, saying, “What right has 
that man to make such a statement?” But it is true ; 
you must settle it. Pilate wanted to shirk the responsi- 
bility, and sent Jesus to Herod; but he was forced to 
a decision. When the Jews forced him to decide, he 
washed his hands, and said he “was innocent of this 
just man’s blood.” But did that take away his guilt? 
No. 

An angel may be here, hovering over this audience, 
and he is listening to what is said. Some one may 
say, 

“T will receive Him; I will delay no longer.” 

Mee the angel will wing his way right up 
to the pearly gates, and tell the news that another 
sinner has been saved. There will be a new song ring- 
ing through the courts of heaven over a sinner re- 
penting. God will issue the command to write down 
his name in the book of life, and to get rooms ready 
for him in the new Jerusalem, where we all will soon 
be. 


GUILTY, BUT SAFE. 


A man was once being tried for a crime, the punish- 


ment of which was death. The witnesses came in 


one by one, and testified to his guilt; but there he 
stood, quite calm and unmoved. The judge and the 
jury were quite surprised at his indifference; they 


could not understand how he could take such a serious. 


matter so calmly. When the jury retired, it did not 
take them many minutes to decide on the verdict 
“guilty” ; and when the judge was passing the sentence 


of death upon the criminal, he told him how surprised _ 
he was that he could be so unmoved in the > pre of | 


death, 


WHAT SALVATION IS. 33 


When the judge had finished, the man put his hand 
in his bosom, pulled out a document, and walked out 
of the dock a free man. Ah, that was how he could 
be socalm! It was a free pardon from his king, which 
he had in his pocket all the time. The king had in- 
structed him to allow the trial to proceed, and to pro- 
duce the pardon only when he was condemned. No 
wonder, then, that he was indifferent as to the result 
of the trial. We who believe in Christ shall not come 
into judgment. We have got a pardon from the Great 
King, and it is sealed with the blood of His Son. 


THE CHICAGO FIRE. 


After the Chicago fire took place, a great many 
things were sent to us from all parts of the world. The 
boxes they came in were labelled ‘For the people who 
were burned out,” and all a man had to do was to 
prove that he had been burned out, and he got a share. 
So here, you have but to prove that you are poor, 
miserable sinners, and there’s help for you. If every 
man who is ruined and lost will cling to “try,” there is 
no hope; but if he give it all up as a bad job, then 
Christ will save him. The law condemns us, but Christ 
saves us. 


THE LOST SCHOLAR. 


The superintendent of a Sabbath school in Edin- 
burgh was walking down the street one day when he 
met a policeman, leading a little boy by the hand, who 
was crying bitterly. He stopped, and asked the police- 
man what was the matter with the boy. 

“Oh,” said the officer, “he has got lost.” 

The superintendent asked to look at him. They 
went to a lamp. and held up the little fellow. Why, in 
a moment the boy knew his superintendent, and flew 
to his arms. The gentleman took him from the police- 
man, and the boy was comforted. The law has got 
us, but let us flee into Jesus’ arms, and we are safe. 

3 


34 | HE WAY HOME, 


A friend of mine told me of a poor Scotch lassie who an 


was very anxious about her soul. He told her to 
read Isaiah 53. She replied, 

“T canna read, and I canna pray; Jesus, take me as I 
am |” 

That was the true way; and Jesus just took her as 
she was. Let Him take you this night, just as you are, 
and He will receive you into His arms. 


THREE YEARS SEEKING JESUS. 


One night, when preaching in Philadelphia, right 
down by the side of the pulpit there was a young lady 
whose eyes were riveted on me as if she were drinking 
in every word, It is precious to preach to people like 
that; they generally get good, even if the sermon be 
poor. 


I went and spoke to her. 
“Are you a Christian?” 


“No, I wish I was. I have been seeking Jesus for 


three years.” 

I said, “’There must be some mistake.” 

She looked strangely at me, and said, “Don’t 2% 
believe me?” 

“Well, no doubt you thought you were seeking 
Jesus; but it don’t take an anxious sinner three years 
to meet an anxious Saviour.” 

“What am I to do, then?” 

“The matter is, you are trying to do something; you 
must just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” 

“Oh, I am sick and tired of the word, ‘Believe, be- 
lieve, believe!’ I don’t know what it is.” 

“Well,” I said, ‘we'll change the word ; take ‘trust.’ ” 

“Tf I say, Vl trust Him, ill He save me?” 

“No, I don’t say that ;you may say a thousand things, 
but if you do trust Him, He will save you.” 

“Well,” she said, “I do trust Him; but,” she added 
in the same breath, “I don’t feel any better,” 


I got interested in her, and after I had done talking, 


“i 


oe OMe. Ae ee Ae OP ee 
atte ae t a * 


WHAT SALVATION IS. 35 


“Ah, I’ve got it now! You’ve teen looking for feel- 
ings for three years, instead of for Jesus. Faith is up 
above, not down here.” 

People are often looking for feelings. If you got up 
-a new translation of the Bible, and if the men who 
are translating it would only put in feelings instead of 
faith, what a rush there would be for that Bible! But 
if you look from Genesis to Revelation, you cannot find 
feelings attached to salvation. We must rise above 
feelings. So I said to this lady, 

“You cannot control your feelings; if you could, 
what a time you’d have! I know I would never have 
the toothache or the headache.” 


THE DEVIL’S STRATACEM. 


“Feelings” is the last plank the devil sticks out, just 
as your feet are getting on the Rock of Ages. He 
sees the poor trembling sinner just finding his way to 
the Saviour, when he shoves out this plank, and the 
poor sinner thinks he’s “all right now.” Some sermon 
you have heard arouses you, but then you feel all right 
when you get on this plank. Six months after per- 
haps, you are dying, and the devil comes along when 
you think you’re quite safe. 

“Ah,” he tells you, “that was my work; I made you 
feel good.” 

And where are you then? Qh, take your stand on 
God’s Word, then you cannot fail! His Word has 
been tried for six thousand years, and it has not failed. 

So I said to the lady, ‘““Have no more to do with 
feelings; but, like Job, say, “Though He slay me, yet 
will I trust in Him.’ ” 

She looked at me a few minutes, and then, stretching 
out her hand to take mine, she said, 

“Mr. Moody, I trust the Lord Jesus Christ to save 
my soul to-night.” 

Then she went to the elders and said the same words, 


36 ' THE WAY HOME, 


As she passed out she met one of the church officers, 
and shaking his hand, said again, 

“T trust the Lord Jesus to save my soul. P: 

Next night she was right before me again. I shall 
never forget her beaming face; the light of eternity 
was shining in her eyes! She went into the inquiry- 
room. I wondered what she was going there for, but 
when I got there, I found her with her arms round a 
lady friend, saying, 

“It’s only to trust Him! I have found it so.” 

From that night she was one of the best workers 
in the inquiry-room, and whenever I met a difficult 
case, I got her to speak to the person, and she was 
sure to help them. 


“WORTHY OF ALL, ACCEPTATION.” 


Surely you can trust God to-night. You must have 
a very poor opinion of God if you cannot trust Him. 
You have only to come to Him thus—receive Him, 
trust Him. What more can you do, and what less 
can you do than trust Him? Is He not worthy of it? 
Now let us be perfectly still a moment, and while the 
voice of man is hushed, let us think of one passage 
of Scripture: ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock!” 
Christ is standing at the door of your heart, knocking ; 
and He says, “If any man hear My voice, and open 
the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, — 
and he with me.” Will any one to-night pull back the 


bolts, and say, “Enter, thou welcome, thrice welcome 


One. Blessed Saviour, come in!” ? 
God grant that all here may do this! 


WHAT IS THE GOSPEL? 


I SHALL take for my text the one word ‘“Gospel.”’ There 
is not a word in the English language that is so little 
understood as this very word. We have heard it from 
our earliest childhood up. There is not a day with 
many of us but that we hear the word “Gospel.” Many 
a man is a partaker of the Gospel a long time before 
he really knows the meaning of the word. 

It means “good tidings.” It would do us good some- 
times to get a dictionary and hunt up the meaning of 
‘some of the words we use so often, some of these Bible 
words. It would change our ideas. 

This would be a very joyful meeting to-night if 
every one really believed that the Gospel is good news. 
Let a boy bring a dispatch into this audience and hand 
it to any one here, if it brings good news you can see 
it immediately in the man’s face; his face lights up 
when he opens the dispatch. You can see he really 
believes it. And if it is really good news, if it brings 
him the tidings of a long-lost boy coming home, if his 
wife is sitting next to him, he passes the dispatch to 
her; he wants her to have knowledge of it too. He 
does not wait for her to ask for it; he does not wait 
till they get home. So when I preach, if I am near 
enough to look into the eyes of those who really be- 
lieve the Gospel, I see their faces light up and they 
look interested ; but those who do not believe it put on 
a long face, and look as if I had brought them a death- 
warrant, or invited them to attend a funeral. 


GOOD TIDINGS. 


The Gospel is good tidings of great joy. No better 
news ever came out of heaven than the Gospel. No 
better news ever fell upon the ears of the family of 
man than the Gospel. Hark; hear those shepherds 

37 


38 THE WAY HOME, 


talking to one another after the angels had gone away! — { 
They believed the message, and they were full of joy. 
You can see them on the way now to Bethlehem. They — 
said, “Let us go and see what has taken place.” And 
what was the message that the angels brought to those a 
shepherds? “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great 
joy, which shall be to all people. For unto youis born 
this day in the city of David a Saviour.” a 

Now if those shepherds had been like a good many 
people at, the present time, they would have said, 

“We do not believe it is good news. It is all excite- 
ment. ‘Those angels want to get up a revival. They 
are trying to excite us. Don’t believe them!” _ FY 

That is what Satan is saying now. “Don’t believe 
that the Gospel is good news.” Because he knows the 
moment a man believes good news, he just receives it. 
I never saw a man in all my life that did not like good 
news. And every man and woman that is under the 
power of the devil does not believe the Gospel is good 
news. The moment you are out from under his power 
and influence, then you believe it. May God grant that 
the Gospel may sink deep into your hearts, and that — 
you may believe it and be saved! 


It is the best news that ever came to this sin-cursed __ 
earth. It means “Good spell,” or, in other words, 
““God’s spell.” We are dead in trespasses and sins,and 
God wants us to be reconciled. It is a Gospel of recon- 
ciliation, and God is calling from the heights of glory, 

“Oh, men, I am reconciled, now be ye reconciled !” 

We have glorious news to tell you—God is recon- 
ciled and beseeches His subjects to be reconciled. The — 
great apostle says, “We beseech you in Christ’s stead, 
be ye reconciled to God.” The moment a man believes 
the Gospel, down goes his arm of rebellion, and the 
unequal controversy is over. A light from Calvary 


“GOD'S SPELL.” % 
yi 

Pa 

P. 


- WHAT IS THE GOSPEL ? 39 


crosses his path, and he can walk in unclouded sun- 
shine, if he will.. It is the privilege of every man 
and woman in this vast assembly from this hour to 
walk in unclouded sunshine if they will. What brought 
darkness into the world? Darkness came because of 
sin, and the man who does not believe the Gospel is 
blinded by the god of this world. 

I like the Gospel, because it is the very best news I 
have ever heard. ‘The reason I like to preach it is be- 
cause it has done me so much good. A man cannot 
preach the Gospel until he believes it himself. He must 
know it down deep in his own heart before he can tell 
it out; and then he tells it out but very poorly at the 
best. We are very poor ambassadors and messengers ; 
but never mind the messenger, take hold of the mes- 
sage—that is what you want. If a boy brought me 
good news to-night, J would not care about the look 
of the boy; I would not care whether he was black 
or white, learned or unlearned. The message is what 
would do me good. A great many look at the mes- 
senger instead of the message. Never mind the mes- 
senger! My friends, get hold of the message to-night. 
The Gospel is what saves, and what I want now is 
that’ you may believe the Gospel now. 


CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS. 


Paul tells in the 15th chapter of 1st Corinthians what 
the Gospel is. He says, “I declare unto you the Gospel.” 
And the first thing he states in the declaration to these 
Corinthians is this: ‘Christ died for our sins accord- 
ing to the Scriptures.” That was the old-fashioned 
Gospel. I hope we never will get away from it. I 
don’t want anything but that old, old story. Some 
people have. itching ears for something new. Bear in 
mind there is no new Gospel. Christ died for our sins. 
If He did not, how are we going to get rid of them? 
Would you insult the Almighty by offering the fruits 
of this frail body to atone for sin? If Christ did 


poe. 
40 THE WAY HOME. 


not die for our sins, what is going to become of our 
souls? 


CHRIST RISEN. 


Then he goes on to tell that Christ was buried, and 
that Christ rose again. He burst asunder the bands 
of death. Death could not hold Him. 

I can imagine, when they laid Him in Joseph’s 
sepulchre, if we could have been there, we should 
have seen Death sitting over that sepulchre, saying, 

“Thave Him. He is my victim. He said He was the 
resurrection and the life. Now I have Him in my cold 
embrace. Look at Him! There He is. He has had 

to pay tribute to me. ‘Some thought He was never 
going to die. Some thought I would not get Him. 
But He is mine.” 3 

But look again! The glorious morning comes, and 
the Son of man bursts asunder the bands of death, and 
comes out of the sepulchre. We do not worship a dead 
God, but a Saviour who still lives. Yes, He rose from 
the grave! 

Then they saw Him ascend. That is what Paul calls 
the Gospel: not only Christ’s death and burial, but His 
ascension into heaven. He went up and took His seat 
at the right hand of God. 

And He will come back again. The Gospel consists 
of five things: Christ’s death, burial, resurrection, 
ascension, and coming again; for “I will come again,” 
said He. Thanks be to God, He is coming back by-and- 
by! He will come and take the kingdom. He will sway 
His scepter from the rivers to the ends of the earth. 
A little while, and He shall rule and reign. Let us lift 
up our heads and rejoice that the time of our redemp- 
tion draweth near. 

Let us get back to the simple Gospel—Christ died 
for our sins. We must know Christ at Calvary first, 
as our Substitute, as our Redeemer; and the moment 
we accept Him as our Saviour and our Redeemer, then 
it is that we become partakers of the Gospel. The 


a * 


WHAT IS THE GOSPEL? 4I 


moment I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as my Sub- 
stitute, as my Saviour, that moment I get light and 
peace. 

I know some people say, “Oh, it is not Christ’s death, 
it is Christ’s life. Do not be preaching so much about 
the death of Christ, preach about His life.” 

My friends, that never will save any one. Paul 
says, “I declare unto you the Gospel. Christ died”— 
not Christ lived—‘Christ died for our sins,” “who 
His own self bare our sins in His own body on the 


_ tree.” Now when I accept Christ as my Saviour, as 


my Substitute, then I am justified from all things 
which I could not be by the law of Moses. 


ENEMIES REMOVED. 


The reason I like the Gospel is, that it has taken 
out of my path the worst enemies I ever had,—death, 
sin and judgment. 

My mind rolls back twenty years, before I was con- 
verted, and I think how dark it used to seem at times 
as I thought of the future. There was death—what a 
terrible enemy it seemed! I was brought up in a little 
village in New England. It was the custom there when 
a person was buried to toll out the age of the person 
at the funeral. I used to count the strokes of the 
bell. Death never entered that village, and tore away 
one of the inhabitants, but I always used to count the 
tolling of the bell. Sometimes it would be away up be- 
tween seventy and eighty, beyond the life allotted to 
man, when man seemed living on borrowed time. 
Sometimes it would be clear down in the teens, and 


‘death would take away one of my own age. It used 


to make a solemn impression on me. I used to be a 
great coward. 

When it comes to death, some men say, “I do not 
fear it.” I feared it, and felt terribly afraid when I 
thought of the cold hand of death feeling for the 
cords of life, and being launched into eternity, to go 


42 THE WAY HOME. 


to an unknown world. I used to have terrible thoughts 


of Ged; but they are all gone now. Death has lost 
its sting, and as I go through the world I can shout, 
when the bell is tolling, 

“O death, where is ‘thy sting?” 

And I hear a voice come rolling down from Calvary, 

“Buried in the bosom of the Son of God.” 


He robbed death of its sting; He took the sting of © 4 


death into His own bosom. If you take a wasp, and i 


just take the sting out of that wasp, you will not be 
afraid of, it any more than you would of a little fly. 
The sting has been taken out. And you need not 
be afraid of death if you are in Christ. Christ died 
for your sin. The penalty, the wages of sin is death. 
Christ received the wages on Calvary, and therefore 


there is no condemnation for you. All that death can — 


get now is this old Adam. I do not care how quickly 
I get rid of it. I will get a better body, a resurrected 
body, a glorified body, a body much better than this. 
Yes, my friends, “to die,” says the apostle, “is gain.” 
If a man is in Christ, let death come! 


THE FEAR OF DEATH. 


Suppose death should come stealing up into this 
pulpit, and should lay his cold, icy hand upon my 


heart, and it should cease to throb ; I should rise to 


another world, and should be in the presence of the 


King. I should be absent from the body, but present ~ 


with the Lord. That is not bad news. ‘There is no 
use in trying to conceal it, death is an enemy to a man’s 


rest. What a glorious thought then to think that when 


vou die you will sink into the arms of Jesus, and that 
He will carry you away to yon world of light. A little 
while longer here, a few more tears, and then you can 
gain an unbroken rest in yon world of light! The 
Gospel turns that enemy into a friend, and ae even 
shout for death. 

Then I used to go and look into the cold: saa 


a 


} 7 
i. 
4 

% 


WHAT IS THE GOSPEL ?. 43 


grave, and I used to think of that terrible hour when 
I would have to be laid down in the grave, and this 


-body would be eaten up with worms. But now the 


grave has lost its terror and gloom; I can go and 
look down into the grave and shout over it, and cry 
out, 

“O grave, where is thy victory?” 

And I hear a voice coming up from the grave. It 
is the shout of the Conqueror, of Him who has been 
down and measured the depth of it, of my Lord and 
Saviour : 

“Because I live, ye shall live also!” 

Yes, the grave has lost its victory. The grave has 
no terror to the man or woman who is in Christ Jesus. 
The Gospel takes that enemy out of the way. 


THE SECOND ENEMY—SIN. 


Again, I thought all my sins would be blazed out 
before the great white throne; that every sin com- 
mitted in childhood and in secret, every secret thought 
and every evil desire, would be blazed out before the 
asseftnbled universe; that every thing done in the dark 
would be brought to light. But thanks be to God, the 
Gospel tells me my sins are all put away in Christ! 
Out of love to my soul God has taken all my sins 
and cast them behind His back. That is a safe place 
to have sin: behind God’s back. God never turns 
back; He always marches on. He will never see your 
sins if they are behind His back. That is one of His 
own illustrations. 

Not a part of my sins: He takes them al/ out of the 
way. There is no condemnation to him that is in 
Christ Jesus. You may just pile up your sins till 
they rise up like a dark mountain, and then multiply 
them by ten thousand for those you cannot think of; 
and after you have tried to enumerate all the sins you 
have ever committed, just let me bring one verse in, 
and that mountain will melt away— 


44 THE WAY HOME. 


“The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us 
from all sin.” | 


WHAT GOD CANNOT DO. 


In Ireland a teacher once asked a little boy if there 
was anything that God could not do, and the little 
fellow said, 

“Yes; He cannot see my sins through the blood of 
Christ.” 

That is just what He cannot do! The blood covers 
them. 

Is it not good news to get rid of your sin? You come 
here a sinner, and if you believe the Gospel your sins 
are taken away. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, 
and thou shalt be saved.” You shall be justified from 
all things, which you could not be by the law of Moses. 
By believing, or by receiving the Gospel, Christ be- 
comes yours. Only think, young man, you are invited 
to accept the Gospel, you are invited to make an ex- 
change—to get rid of all your sins, and to take Christ 
in the place of them. Is not that wonderful? What 
a foolish young man you will be not to make the 
bargain! The Lord says, “I will take your sins, and 
give you Mvself in the place of them.” But a great 
many say “No,” and just hug sin to their bosom. May 
God help you to come, sinner, to-night, and receive 
the Lord Jesus Christ as your way, your truth, and 
your life. 


THE THIRD ENEMY—JUDGMENT. 


There is another enemy which used to haunt me a 
good deal—judgment. I used to think that would be 
a terrible day when I should be summoned before 
God, and could not tell till then whether I should 
have a seat on His right hand or on His left. Until 
I stood before the great white throne of judgment I 
thought I could not tell whether I should hear the 
voice of God saying, “Depart from Me, ye cursed,” or 
whether God would say, “Enter thou into the je7 of 


WHAT IS THE GOSPEL? 45 


thy Lord.” But the Gospel tells me that question is 
already settled—‘‘There is now no condemnation to 
them that are in Christ Jesus.” Listen to this verse— 
“Verily, verily’—and when you see that word “Verily, 
verily” in Scripture you may know there is something 
very important coming, it means, “Mark what I tell 
you,” or, “Truly, truly’—‘‘Truly, truly, I say unto 
you, He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him 
that sent Me, hath (h-a-t-h, hath) everlasting life, and 
shall not .come into condemnation (that means, into 
judgment), but is passed from death unto life.” 

Well, then, I am not coming into judgment for sin! 
The question has been settled, because Christ was 
judged for me, and died in my stead, and I go free. 
Is not that good news? 

I heard of a man praying that he might lay hold of 
eternal life. I could not have said amen to that 
prayer. I laid hold of eternal life years ago when 
I was converted. What is the gift of God if it is not 
eternal life? And that is what God wants to give to 
every one in this hall to-night, and it is the greatest 
gift that can be bestowed on any one down here in 
this dark world. If an angel came straight from the 
throne of God on to this platform, and proclaimed to 
this assembly that God had sent him here to offer to 
this audience any one thing they might ask, that each 
one should have his own petition granted, what would 
be the cry in this audience? There would be but one 
real cry coming up from you, and the shout would 
make heaven ring—‘Eternal life! eternal life!” Every- 
thing else would vanish into insignificance. 

There is not anything a man values more than his 
life. Let a man worth a million dollars be on a 
wrecked vessel, and if he could just save his life for 
six months by giving that million, he would give it in 
an instant. The gift of God is eternal life, and is it 
not one of the greatest marvels that we have to stand, 
and plead, and pray men to take this gift. May God 
help you to take it now! Do not listen to Satan any 


“_ 


46 THE WAY HOME. . 


longer. Reach out the hand of faith and take it now. 


Young man, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou 
shalt be saved. Trust Him to save you now, and then 
there will be no condemnation, Death will have lost 
his sting, the grave and its victory will be safe out 
of the way, and the judgment will be past for you. 
Believe the Gospel. Lay hold of eternal life while 
God is offering it to you. Be reconciled to-night! 
Take your stand hard by the cross, and you are saved 
for time and eternity. I am told that at Rome, if you 
go up a few steps on your hands and knees, that is 
nine years out of purgatory. If you take one step 
now you are out of purgatory for time and eternity. 
. You used to have two’ steps into glory—out of self 
into Christ, out of Christ into glory. But there is a 
shorter way now with only one step—out of self into 
glory, and you are saved. May God help you to take 
the step now! Flee, my friends, to-night to Calvary, 
and get under the shadow of the cross. 


THE FIRE ON THE PRAIRIE. 


Out in our western country, in the autumn, when 
men go hunting, and there has not been any rain for 
months, sometimes the prairie grass catches fire, and 
there comes up a strong wind, and the flames just roll 


along twenty feet high over that western desert at the 


rate of thirty or forty miles an hour, consuming man 
and beast. When the hunters see it coming, what do 
they do? They know they cannot run as fast as the fire 
can run. Not the fleetest horse can escape from that 
fire. They just take a match and light the grass around 
them, and let the flames sweep on, and then they get 
into the burnt district and stand safe. ‘They hear the 
flames roar as they come along, they see death coming 
towards them, but they do not fear, they do not trem- 
ble, because the fire has swept over the place where 
they are, and there is no danger. There is nothing 
for the fire to burn. 


2 


Mets? 


WHAT IS THE GOSPEL? 47 


There is one mountain peak that the wrath of God 
has swept over—mount Calvary; and the fire spent its 
fury upon the Son of God. Take your stand there by 
the cross, and you will be safe for time and eternity. 
Escape for your life! flee to yon mountain, and you 
will be saved this very minute. Oh, may God bring 
you to Calvary under the shadow of the cross to-night ! 
Then let death and the grave come. We will shout, 
“Glory to God in the highest.” We will laugh at 
death, and glory in the grave, knowing that we are 
safe, sheltered by the precious blood of the Lamb. 
There is no condemnation to him that is in Christ 
Jesus. 


“NOW” AND “TO-MORROW.” 


“Now” is one of the words of the Bible the devil 
is afraid of. He says, “Do not be in a hurry; there 
is plenty of time; do not be saved now.” He knows 
the influence of that word “now.” ‘“‘To-morrow”’ is 
the devil’s word. The Lord’s word is “now.” He 
says, “Come now, and let us reason together: though 
your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; 
though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” 
Scarlet and crimson are two fast colors; you cannot 
get the color out without destroying the garment. God 
says, “Though your sins be as scarlet and crimson, 
I will make them as wool and snow. I will do it.” 
That is the way God reasons. He puts the pardon 
before the sinner the first thing. That is a queer way 
of reasoning, but God’s thoughts are not our thoughts ; 
and so, my friends, if you want to be saved, the Lord 
says He will pardon you. 


THE GOVERNOR IN THE CONDEMNED CELL. 


A few years ago, when Pennsylvania had a Christian 
governor, there was a young man who was arrested 
for murder. He was brought before the court, tried, 
found guilty, and sentenced to death. His friends 


48 THE WAY HOME. 


thought there would be no trouble in getting a reprieve 
or pardon. Because the governor was a Christian 
man, they thought he would not sign the death-war-— 
rant. But he signed it. 

They called on the governor, and begged of him to 
pardon the young man, but he said, 

“No, the law must ‘take its course, the man must 
die.” 

I think the mother of the young man called on the 
governor and pleaded with him, but he stood firm, and 
said, 

“No, the man must die.” 

A few days before the man was to be executed, the 
governor took the train to the county where the man 
was imprisoned. He went to the sheriff of the county, 
and said to him, 

“T wish you to take me to that man’s cell, and leave 
me alone with him a little while, and do not tell him 
who I am till I am gone.” 

The governor went to the prison, talked to the young 
man about his soul, and told him that although he was 
condemned by man to be executed, God would have 
mercy upon him and save him if he would accept 
pardon from God. He preached Christ, and told him 
how Christ came to seek and to save sinners; and 
having explained as he best knew how the plan of 
salvation, he got down and prayed, and after praying 
he shook hands with him and bade him farewell. 

Some time after the sheriff passed by the condemned 
man’s cell, and he called him to the door of the cell, 
and said, 

“Who was that man that talked and prayed with - 
me so kindly?” 

The sheriff said, “That was Governor Pollock.” 

The man turned deathly pale, and he threw up both 
his hands, and said, 

“Was that Governor Pollock? was that kind-hearted 
man the governor? Oh, sheriff, why did not you tell 
me? If I had known that was the governor, I would 


» 


WHAT IS THE GOSPEL? 49 


have fallen at his feet and asked for pardon; I would 
have pleaded for pardon and for my life. Oh, sir, the 
governor has been here, and I did not know it.” 

Sinner, I have got good news to tell you. There is 
one greater than the governor here to-night, and He 
wants to pardon every one. He does not want you to 
go away condemned. He wants to bring you from 
under condemnation, to pardon eyery soul. Will you 
have the pardon, or will you despise the gift of God? 
Will you despise the mercy of God? Oh, this night, 
while God is beseeching you to be reconciled, let me 
join with your praying mother, with your praying 
father, with your godly minister, with your Sabbath- 
school teacher, and all your praying friends; let me 
join my voice with theirs to plead with you to-night 
to be reconciled! Make up your mind now, while I 
am speaking, that you will not cross your threshold 
until you are reconciled, and there will be joy in heaven 
to-night over your decision. Oh, may God bring hun- 
dreds to a decision to-night! 


RECONCILIATION. 


An Englishman told me some time ago a story which 
illustrates the truth of reconciliation. God is recon- 
ciled. “You must accept what He has done. 

The story is this: There was an Englishman who 
had an only son; and only sons are often petted, 
humored, and ruined. This boy became very head- 
strong, and very often he and his father had trouble. 
One day they had a quarrel, and the father was very 
angry, and so was the son; and the father, said he 
wished the boy would leave home and never come 
back. The boy said he would go, and would not 
come into his father’s house again till he sent for him. 
The father said he would never send for him. 

Well, away went the boy. But even though a’ 
father gives up a boy, a mother does not. You mothers 
will understand that, but the fathers may not. You 

4 


Ee ee ea eet eS Aig er TON 


50 THE WAY HOME. 


know there is no love on earth so strong as a mother’s 
love. A great many things may separate a man and 
his wife; a great many things may separate a father 
from a son; but there is nothing in the wide world 
that can ever separate a true mother from her child. 
To be sure, there are some mothers that have drunk 
so much liquor, that they have drunk up all their 
affection. But I am talking about a true mother; and 
she would not cast off her boy. 

This. mother began to write to and plead with her 
son to write to his father first, and his father would 
forgive him; but the boy said, 

“T will never go home till father asks me.” 3 

She pleaded with the father, but the father said, 

“No, I will never ask him.” 

At last the mother was brought down to her sick 
bed, broken-hearted. When she was given up by the 
physicians to die, the husband, anxious to gratify her 
last wish, wanted to know if there was not anything 
he could do for her before she died. The mother gave 
him a look; he well knew what it meant. Then she 
said, 

“Yes, there is one thing you can do, you can send 
for my boy. That is the only wish on earth you can 
gratify.. If you do not pity him and love him when I 
am dead and gone, who will?” 

“Well,” said the father, “I will send word to him 
that you want to see him.” 

“No,” she said, “you know he will not come for 
me. If ever I see him you must send for him.” 

At last the father wrote a dispatch in his own name, 
asking the boy to come home. As soon as he got the 
invitation from his father, he started off to see his 
dying mother. 

When he opened the door to go in, he found his 
mother dying and his father by the bedside. The 
father heard the door open, and saw the boy, but 
instead of going to meet him he went to another part 
of the room, and refused to speak to him. His mother 


—— 


WHAT IS THE GOSPEL? 51 


seized his hand—how she had longed to press it! She 
kissed him, and then said, 

“Now, my son, just speak to your father. You 
speak first, and it will all be over.” 

But the boy said, “No, mother, I will not speak to 
him until he speaks to me.” 

She took her husband’s hand in one hand and the 
boy’s in the other, and spent her dying moments and 
strength in trying to bring about a reconciliation. Just 
as she was expiring, she could not speak, so she put 
the hand of the wayward boy into the hand of the 
father, and passed away. ‘The boy looked at his 
mother, the father at his wife; and at last the father’s 
heart broke, and he opened his arms, and took that boy 
to his bosom, and by that body they were reconciled. 

Sinner, that is only a faint type, a poor illustration, 
because God is not angry with you. I bring you to 
Calvary’s cross. I ask you to look at the wounds in 
the hands and feet of Jesus, and the wound in His side. 
Gaze upon His five wounds! And I ask you will you 
not be reconciled? When Jesus left heaven, He came 
down to the manger that He might get hold of the 
vilest sinner, and put the hand of the wayward prodigal 
into that of the Father, and He died that you and I 
might be reconciled. If you take my advice, you will 
not go out of this hall to-night until you are recon- 
ciled. 

Oh, this Gospel of reconciliation! Come home to- 
night! Your Father wants you to come. Say as the 
prodigal did of old, “I will arise and go to my father,” 
and there will be joy in heaven! 


THE DEATH: OF °Chaiiaae 


You will find my text in the fifty-third chapter of 
Isaiah: 

“Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our 
sorrows; yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of 
God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our 
transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the 


chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with | 


His stripes we are healed.” 
Five times that little word ‘‘our’ is used—our sor- 


rows, our griefs, our iniquities, our transgressions, and 


the chastisement of owr peace—there is a Substitute 
for you! I would like, if I could, to make that fifty- 


third chapter of Isaiah real. I would like, if I could, to ~ 


bring before this congregation this truth—that Christ 
has suffered for each one of us. We take up the Bible, 
we read the account of His crucifixion and death, how 
He suffered in agony; and we lay the Bible down, go 
away, and think nothing more about it. 

When the war was going on I would read about a 
great battle having been fought, where probably thou- 
sands of men had been killed and wounded; and after 
reading the article I would lay the paper aside and for- 
get all about it. At last I went into the army myself. 
I saw the dying men. I heard the groans of the 
wounded. I helped to comfort the dying, and bury 
the dead. I saw the scene in all its terrible realities. 
After I had been on the battlefield, I could not read 
an account of a battle without it making a profound 
impression upon me. 

I wish I could bring before you in living colors the 
sufferings and death of Christ. I do not believe there 
would be a dry eye here. I want to speak of His 
_ physical suffering; for that I think we can lay hold of. 
No man knows or can know what Christ’s mental suf- 
ferings were. 

$2 


THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 53 


When a great man dies, we are all anxious to get his 
last words; and if it is a friend, how we treasure up 
that last word—how we tell it to his friends! and 
we never tire of talking to our loved ones of how he 
made his departure from the world. Now let us visit 
~ Calvary. 

BACK IN JERUSALEM, 


Let us go back in imagination to the time of Christ’s 
crucifixion, and suppose we are living in the city of 
Jerusalem. 

Take the last Tuesday He spent with His disciples 
before He was crucified, and imagine we are walking 
in one of the streets of Jerusalem. We see a small 
body of men walking down the street; many are run- 
ning to see what the excitement is. As we get nearer, 
we find that it is Jesus with His disciples. Let us 
walk down the street with them, and see them enter 
a common-looking house. They go in, and we enter 
also; and there we find Jesus sitting with the disciples. 
You can see sorrow depicted upon His brow. His 
disciples see it, but do not know what has caused His 
grief. We are told that “He was sorrowful unto 
death.” 

Some one has said, “Our Lord’s last hours must 
have been a great mystery to the twelve disciples. He 
had filled Jerusalem with wonder at the resurrection 
of Lazarus; and here He was talking about death— 
He who could raise a dead man that had been already 
in his grave four days! What did it mean?” 

“And as they did eat, He said, Verily I say unto 
you that one of you shall betray Me. And they were 
exceedingly sorrowful; and began every one of them 
to say unto Him, Lord, is it I? And He answered 
and said, He that dippeth his hand with Me in the 
dish, the same shall betray Me. The Son of Man goeth 
as it is written of Him: but woe unto that man by 
whom the Son of Man is betrayed! it had been good 
for that man if he had not been born. Then, Judas, 


ie Ae ans - 


54 THE WAY HOME. 


which betrayed Him, answered and said, Master, is it 
I? He said unto him, Thou hast said.” 

Soon after, Christ said to Judas, “What thou doest 
do quickly.” Then Judas left the room. For three 
years he had been associated with the Son of God. For 
three years he had sat at the feet of Jesus. For three 
years he had heard those words of sympathy and love 
that had fallen from His lips. For three years Judas 
had been one of “the twelve.” He had seen Jesus 
perform His wonderful miracles; he had heard the 
parables as they fell from the lips of the Saviour. For 
three years he had seen what the prophets would have 
been glad to see; he had been exalted to heaven with 
privileges. And Judds goes out into the night—the 
darkest night that this world ever saw—the saddest 
parting that ever took place on this earth; he goes 
out into darkness, despair, remorse, and death. Hear 
him as he goes down those steps, off into the darkness 
and blackness of the night! He went to the San- 
hedrim, and to the chief priests, “and said unto them, 
What will ye give me, and I will deliver Him unto 
you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces _ 
of silver.” 


SELLING JESUS. 


That was a small amount! Men condemn Judas; 
but how many are selling Christ for less than he did! 
How many give up Him, and all hope of heaven, for 
less than thirty pieces of silver! There are men who 
will sell Him for a little pleasure, and women who will 
sell Him for two or three hours in a ball-room! 

You can hear the money being counted, Judas puts — 
it into the bag. He says, 

“Give me a band of men, and I will take you where 
He is.” 

It was on that night that Jesus said to His disciples, 
“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, 
believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many | 
mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you, ~ 


_—_ 


ie 


ans gti ne Die ee ai 
? , 


THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 55 


I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and pre- 
pare a place for you, I will come again, and receive 
you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be 
also.” 

Instead of the disciples trying to comfort Jesus, He 
tries to cheer them. He took them “unto a place called 
Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, 
while I go and pray yonder. And He took with Him 
Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be 
sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith He unto them, 
My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry 
ye here, and watch with He. And He went a little 
farther, and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, O 
my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me! 
Nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt. 

“And He cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them 
asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch 
with Me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter 
not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but 
the flesh is weak. 

“He went away again the second time, and prayed, 
saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away 
from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done. And He 
came and found them asleep again: for their eyes 
were heavy. And He left them, and went away again, 
and prayed the third time, saying the same words. 

“Then cometh He to His disciples, and saith unto 
them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the 
hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into 
the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going: behold, 


he is at hand that doth betray Me.” 


He that knew no sin was to bear all our sins. He 
who was as spotless as the angels of heaven was to 
suffer for us. From this lone spot His earnest 
prayers ascended to heaven. 


THE ARREST. 


He sees the men who are hunting for Him. They 


els THE WAY HOME. 


are looking around through the olive trees for some 
one. He well knows whom they the looking for. He 
went up to this band of men and said, 

“Whom seek ye?” 

And they said, ““We seek Jesus of Nazareth.” 

Tivam: Fie’. 

There was something about that reply that terrified 
those men. They trembled, and fell to the ground. 
Then Judas came up; and I do not know but he put 
his arms around His neck and kissed Him. When 
Judas had, kissed Christ, the soldiers seized Him; for 
Judas had told them that when they saw him kiss a 
man, that was He. Those hands that had wrought so 
many wonderful miracles, those hands that had often 
been raised to bless the disciples, were bound. Then 
Peter draws his sword, and cuts off the high priest’s 
servant’s ear. But Jesus healed the wound at once. 
He would not let the man suffer. He did not come 
to. destroy life, but to save. 

Then they take Him back to Jerusalem. We can 
see the soldiers and the populace mocking Him. They 
led Him away to Annas first, for he was father-in-law 
to Caiaphas, which was the high priest; and by Annas 
he was sent to Caiaphas. 

“The high priest then asked Jesus of His disciples, 
and of His doctrine. Jesus answered him, I spake 
openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, 
and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and 
in secret have I said nothing. Why. askest thou ‘Me? 
Ask them which heard Me, what I have said unto 
them: behold, they know what I said. And when He 
had thus spoken, one of the officers which stood by 
struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, An- 
swerest thou the high priest so? Jesus answered him, 
If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if 
well, why smitest thou Me?” 


CHRIST BEFORE THE RULERS. 


After this they led Him before the Sanhedrim ; Christ 


ee 


t 


i 
§ 
nd 


THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 57 


is before the rulers of the Jews. There were seventy 
that belonged to that Sanhedrim. The law required 
that two witnesses must appear against a person on 
trial before he could be convicted. They secure false 
witnesses, who come in and swear falsely. ‘Then the 
high priest asked Jesus what it was that those men 
witnessed against Him; but He said nothing. The 
high priest asked Him a second time, and said, 

“Art Thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” 

Jesus answered, “I am; and ye shall see the Son of 
Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming 
in the clouds of heaven.” 

Then the high priest said, “What need we any fur- 
ther witnesses? Ye have heard the blasphemy: what 
think ye?” 

And the verdict came forth, “He is guilty of death!” 

What a sentence! After a short trial He was pro- 
nounced guilty of death! You can see one of these 
soldiers strike Him with the palm of his hand. An- 
other spits in His face. They not only struck Him, but 
they spit upon Him. They kept Him until morning. 

While the trial is going on, Peter is out in the judg- 
ment-hall swearing that he never knew Him. They 
had all forsaken Him. Judas had already come back 
and thrown down the money which had been paid him 
for betraying innocent blood, and was soon on his 
way to hang himself. 

“Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of 
judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went 
not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled: 
but that they might eat the passover. Pilate then went 
out unto them, and said, What accusation bring ye 
against this Man? They answered and said unto him, 
If He were not a malefactor, we would not have de- 
livered Him up unto thee. Then said Pilate unto 
them, Take ye Him, and judge Him according to your 
law. The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not law- 
ful for us to put any man to death: that the saying 


58 THE WAY HOME. 


of Jesus might be fulfilled, which He spake, signifying » 


what death He should die. Then Pilate entered into 
the judgment-hall again, and called Jesus, and said 
unto Him, Art Thou the King of the Jews? Jesus 
answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or 
did others tell it thee of Me? Pilate answered, Am I a 
Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have 
delivered Thee unto me: what hast Thou done? Jesus 
answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if My 
kingdom were of this world, then would My servants 
fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but 
now is My kingdom not from hence.” 

At this time the city was filled with strangers from 
all parts of the country. They had heard that the 
Galilean prophet had been brought before the Sanhe- 
drim, that they had condemned Him, and that He was 
to die the cruel death of the Cross; and all they had to 


do was to get Pilate’s consent and they would put Him ~ 


out of the way. Pilate talked with Him, and then said, 

“T find no fault in this Man. I will chastise Him, 
and let Him go.” 

But they shouted, “If you let Him go, you will not 
be Ceesar’s friend, for He has stirred up the country 
from Galilee to here.” 

“Why,” said Pilate, “is He a Galilean?” 

And they told Pilate that He was from Nazareth. 
When he heard that, he was glad to get rid of the 
responsibility. 

He said, “Then I will send Him to Herod.” 

There are a great many Roman soldiers keeping 
back the crowds in the streets, the same as our police 
on some great day. You can see these soldiers going 
before the crowd that have Jesus, clearing the streets. 
Herod was glad when Jesus was brought into his 
presence, for he hoped that He would perform same 
miracle to gratify his curiosity. We are told that 
Herod’s men of war set Him at naught. They said, 
“Hail, King of the Jews!” Then they came up, and 


THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 59 


struck Him on the face. Let us make the scene real 
to-day! ‘He was bruised for our transgressions.” 
After they had mocked Him, they again dressed Him 
up in his own garments and brought Him before 
Pilate. You can see the crowd around the judgment- 


hall. They are ready to put Him to death. 


“All classes of persons conspired to crucify Him. 
‘The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were 
gathered together against Jehovah, and against His 
Christ.’ The dissolute, blood-thirsty Herod: the crafty, 
worldly-minded Pilate; the idolatrous Gentiles, and the 
religious people of Israel—all united to condemn to 
death God’s holy Child Jesus.” 


JESUS OR BARABBAS? 


A new thought strikes Pilate now. He remembered 
that it was a custom among the Jews that on a certain 
day one prisoner was to be released to them, and go 
unpunished. So he said to the Jews, 

“Which of these two prisoners shall I release, Jesus 
or Barabbas?” 

When they found out what was going on, the ene- 
mies of Christ went through the crowd and asked that 
Barabbas might be released. “‘Which shall I release 
unto you, Jesus or Barabbas?’’—Jesus who raised the 
dead, or Barabbas who took the lives of men, whose 


hands were dripping with the blood of his fellow men 


—no sooner was the question put to the crowd than 
they lifted up their voices, shouting, 

“Barabbas! Barabbas !” 

Then he said, “What shall I do with Jesus ?” 

And the cry rang through the streets, “Let Him be 
crucified!’ But a few days before, the crowd were 
erying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” 

Then when the governor heard it, he turned and 
washed his hands, saying, 

“I am innocent of the blood of this just person,” 


60 THE WAY HOME. 


I never knew until lately what the Roman custom 
of scourging was. When I first read about it I could 
not help but weep, and ask Christ to forgive me for 
not having loved Him more. Let us imagine the scene 
when He is taken by the Roman soldiers to be scourged. 
The orders were to put forty stripes, one after another 
upon His bared-back. Sometimes it took fifteen min- 
utes, and the man died while being scourged. See 
Him stooping while the sins of the world are laid upon 
Him, and the whips come down upon His bare back, 
cutting clear through the skin and flesh to the bone. 
After they had scourged Him, instead of pouring oil 
into the wounds of Him who came to bind up the 
broken heart, and pour oil into its wounds—instead of 
doing this they dressed Him up again, and some cruel 
wretch reached out to Him a crown of thorns, which 
was placed upon His brow. The Queen of England 
wears a crown of gold, filled with diamonds and prec- 
ious stones, worth millions; but when they came to 
crown the Prince of Heaven, they gave Him a crown 
of thorns, and placed it, upon His brow; and in His 
hand they put a reed for;a-sceptre. 

“And the soldiers led Him away into the hall, called 
Pretorium; and:they called:together the whole band. 
And they ‘clothed Him: with purple, and platted a 
crown of thorns,and put it about His head, and began 
to salute Him, Hail, King of the Jews! And they | 
sméteHim on the bead with a reed, and did spit | 
upon ‘Hitn,, and bowing their knees worshipped Him. 
And when they had mocked Him, they took off the 
purple from’ Him, and put his own clothes on Him, 
and led Him out to crucify Him. And they compel one 
Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the 
country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear 
his cross.” 


ON THE WAY TO CALVARY, 


Now you might have seen at one of the gates of 
the city a great crowd bursting through. There are 


1 a? 


s/ 


{RE DEATH OF CHRIST. GI 


two thieves being brought for execution. Between the 
two thieves is the Son of God, walking through the 
streets of Jerusalem. And He carried a cross. Ladies 
wear small crosses made of gold, and wood, and stone, 
around their necks; but the cross that the Son of God 
carried was a heavy tree, made into a cross. I can see 
Him reeling and staggering under it. Undoubtedly 
He had lost so much blood that He was too faint to 
carry it; and before they got to the place, it well nigh 
crushed Him to the earth. And the crowd hooting, 


- “Away with Him! away with Him!’—a pestilent fel- 


low, as they called Him. 

They arrived at Calvary a little before nine. Then 
they took the Son of God, and laid Him out upon the 
cross. I can see them binding His wrists to the arms 
of the cross. After they had got Him bound, up came 
a soldier with hammer and nails. He put one nail into 
the palm of His hand, and down came the hammer 
without mercy, driving it down through the bone and 
flesh, and into the wood; and then the other hand. 
Then they brought a long nail for His feet, and the 
soldiers gathered round the cross and lifted it up, and 
the whole weight of the Son of God came upon those 
nails in His hands and feet. 

You who say you see no beauty in Christ that you 
should desire Him, come with me and look at those 
wounds! .Remember that that crown of thorns was 
laid upon His brow by a mocking world. Look at Him 
as He hangs there, and at the people who pass by 
deriding Him! ‘There are the two thieves that reviled 
Him, and the one that said, “Save us, and save Thy- 
self, if Thou be the Son of God.” 


ON THE CROSS. 


But hark! Christ has not spoken since He uttered 
those words of comfort to the daughters of Jerusalem ; 
but at last there comes a cry from the cross. hat is 
it? Is it a cry to God to take Him down from the 


62 ; THE WAY HOME, 


cross? Is it a cry of vengeance? or is He calling fire 
down on them? No! It is ‘Father, forgive them; for 
they know not what they do!’ Was there ever such 
love as that? While they were crucifying Him, He 
was lifting His heart to God in prayer. His heart 
seemed to be breaking for those sinners. How He 
wanted to take them in His arms! How He wanted to 
forgive them! 

At last He cried, “I thirst!” Instead of giving Him 
a draught of water from one of His own springs, they 
gave Him a draught of gall mixed with vinegar. It 
was about'the only thing He ever asked of the world, 
and you see how they treated His request. 

There He hung! You can see those soldiers casting 
lots for His garments, as they crowd around the foot 
of the cross. While they were casting lots, the crowd 
would mock and deride Him, and make all manner of 
sport of Him. He only cried, » 

“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they 
do!” 

But now He cries, “My God, my God, why hast 
Thou forsaken Me?” We have just seen what He 
suffered physically ; but His mental sufferings were too 
deep for any mortal man to understand. He was dying . 
in the sinner’s stead, with the sins of the world upon 
His head. A righteous God could not look upon sin, 
even when borne by the eternal Substitute; and He 
hid his face from Him. Earth had cast Him out, man 
had mocked and rejected Him; His own disciples had 
forsaken Him and fled; and now that God would not 
look upon Him, it well nigh broke our Saviour’s heart, 
and in the bitter anguish of His soul, He cried, 

“My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” 

Right in the midst of the darkness and gloom there . 
came a voice from one of those thieves. It flashed into 
his soul as he hung there, “This must be more than 
man; this must be the true Messiah!” He cried out, 
“Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy 


THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 63 


Kingdom!” We are anxious to get the last word or 
act of our dying friends. Here was the last act of 
Jesus. He snatched the thief from the jaws of death, 
saying, 

“This day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise.” 

Again He spoke. What was it? “It is finished!” 

was His cry. Salvation was wrought out, atonement 
was made. His blood had been shed; His life had been 
given. Undoubtedly, if we could, we would have seen 
legions of devils hovering around the cross. The dark 
clouds of death and hell came surging up against the 
bosom of the Son of God, and He drove them back, 
‘as you have seen the waves come gathering up and 
surging against the rock, then receding, and then re- 
turning. The billows went over Him. He was con- 
quering death, and Satan, and the world, in those last 
moments. He was treading the wine-press alone. 

“Tt is finished!” Perhaps no one who heard it knew 
what it meant. But the angels in heaven knew. I 
can imagine the bells of heaven ringing out, and angels 
singing, 

“The God-man is dead! Full restitution has opened 
the way back into Paradise, and all man has to do is 
to look and live!” 

After He cried, “It is finished!” He bowed His 
head, commended His spirit to God, and gave up the 
ghost. Do you tell me you see no reason why you 
should love such a Saviour? Have you no desire to 
receive Him, and become His? 

The following incident, related in a Christian paper, . 
touched my heart very deeply: 

Not a long while since, a prominent physician of 
Denver, Colorado, was called to attend a patient in the 
last stages of what appeared to be consumption, but 
which, upon examination proved to be simply a wear- 
ing away of life—a decay of the energies of mind 
and body. Although well supplied with money, the 
stranger was seemingly without friends or relatives. 


64 HE WAY HOME. 


He wrote no letters, and received none. An afien to 
the tenderness and charities which sanctify the affec- 
tions, he seemed to be drifting out of the world, in 
which, for him, all the flowers of the heart had per- 
ished—a bleak and desolate old man, hastening out of 
the sunshine into the winter of the grave. After mak- 
ing a thorough examination of the case, the doctor told 
him that although he could find no organized ora 
yet he was dying. 

“T know it,” replied the Rateen 

“But have you no idea of what brought you to this 
plight?” inquired the interested man of science. 

“Tt is curious. You have heard a great deal about 
cases like mine—more as an exaggeration of the fancy 
than as an actual occurrence; but strange as it may 
appear, I am dying, as you say—of a broken heart.” 

“You surprise me!” 

“Yes, I surprise myself. I did not come to your 
health-giving climate as others do, in search of a 
longer lease of life, but to die in peace, and alone.” 

“But have you no friends?” asked the doctor. 

“None that I can claim. My past is sealed with the ~ 
shadow of a crime, and over my nameless grave not 
even a memory must hover. I am already dead to 
all who ever knew my name!” 

“You say you are a criminal?” pursued the doctor. 

“No, Iam.none. But I assume the stigma to shield 
another.” 

“And that other: Ent 

“Was my son.’ 

“What was the nature of the crime?” 

The physician’s curiosity had got the better of his 
prudence. The shadows of twilight were falling 
around them. Through the open window streamed 
the soft brilliance of the dying day. Clouds of ame- 
thyst and purple floated lazily on the far-off hill. But 
in the chamber where the fevered breath was drawn 
quick and short, there was a hushed stillness which 
seemed in keeping with ghostly shadows, 


a ae 


THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 65 


“Tt was murder.” 

“And was fixed on you?” 

“On me. I assumed it, and then escaped—not to 
evade the vengeance of the law, but to spare to him 
I loved the stigma of a felon’s death.” 

“How long ago was this?” 

“Twelve years.” 

“And you have been a wanderer ever since?” 

“Ever since.” 

The feeble pulse was fluttering, the shattered form 
was growing rigid momentarily. 

“Will you tell me no more?” whispered the physi- 
cian, 

“Tt is all I have to tell!” 

The next instant the man was dead. He had kept 
his secret, and sacrificed his life in keeping it. 

What should we think of that son, if we knew that 
he did not cherish and treasure as his dearest posses- 
sion the memory of this loving self-sacrificing father ? 
Could we imagine such base and heartless ingratitude ? 
Surely not. Yet the sacrifice that father made on 
behalf of his boy was as the dust in the balance com- 
pared with the life of humiliation, of pain, and sorrow, 
and shame, voluntarily chosen and endured by our 
blessed Lord; with His mental anguish and bloody 
sweat in the garden; with His bodily sufferings and 
brutal treatment on the cruel cross; with the unspeak- 
able burden of human sin that was laid upon Him, and 
that He gladly bore, that He might redeem a lost 
rebellious world. 

Shall we render Him no return? Shall we banish 
such love from our hearts? Shall He not see the 
travail of His soul, and be satisfied, as He lives in 
the deepest heart’s affection of those whom He loved, 
and suffered, and died to save? Oh, the height and the 
depth of our ingratitude and infamy if we scorn the 
love of such a Saviour, and if we exalt Him not to his 
rightful place, as King in our hearts and lives! God 


66 THE WAY HOME. 


forbid that one soul who has ever heard the story of 
the Cross should be guilty of these things. 

Thank God He is not now on the cross, or in the 
tomb. He has risen, and now sitteth at the right hand 
of the Father, where He waits to bless His believing 
people, and at last to receive them to His presence 


and glory. 


TAKING GOD’S WAY. 


I wis to call your attention to a man rather than to 
a text ; to one who was a great man in his own country, 
and very honorable; one whom the king delighted to 
honor. He stood high in position. He was captain 
of the host of the king of Syria; but he was a leper, 
and that threw a blight over his whole life. 

There was no physician to help him in Syria. None 
of the eminent doctors in Damascus could do him any 
good. Neither could any in Jerusalem. ‘There was 


‘no balm in Gilead.. If he was to get rid of the leprosy, 


Pe as 
7 


the power must come from on high. It must be some 
one unknown to Naaman, for he did not know God. 


THE LITTLE MISSIONARY. 


But I will tell you what they had in Syria—they had 
one of God’s children there, and she was a little girl, a 
simple captive maid. Naaman knew nothing about 
her, though she was one of his household, this little 
Israelite. 

I can imagine her one day as she said to Mrs. 
Naaman, her mistress, that there was a prophet in her 
country that could cure her master of his leprosy. 

“Would to God,” the maid said, “my lord were with 
the prophet in Samaria! for he would recover him of 
his leprosy.” 

There’s faith for you! 

“Why,” says the mistress, “what are you talking 
about? Did you ever hear of anybody being cured of 
‘eprosy ?” 

“Ah,” said the girl, “it is true, I can assure you; we 
have got prophets down there that can cure anyone.” 

At last some one told the king what the little maid 
of Israel had said. Now Naaman stood high in the 
king’s favor, for he had recently won a great victory. 


67 


68 THE WAY HOME. 


He was called a lord, perhaps he was a prince, a sort — 


of Syrian Prince Bismarck, who stood near the throne. 
So the king said, 

“You had better go down to Samaria, and see if 
there is anything in it. I will give you letters of 
introduction to the king of Israel.” 


MONEY WILL NOT BUY SALVATION. 


Yes, he would give Naaman letters of introduction 
to the king. That’s just man’s idea. The notion was 


that if anybody could help him, it was the king, and 


that the king had power both with God and man. Oh, 
my friends, it is a good deal better to know a man that 
knows God! A man acquainted with God has more 
power than any earthly potentate. Gold can’t do 
everything. 

Away goes Naaman down to Samaria with his 
kingly introduction, and he takes with him a lot of 
gold and silver. That is man’s idea again; he is going 
to pay for a great doctor, and he takes about half a 
million dollars, as far as I can make it out, to pay for 
the doctor’s bill. There are a good many men who 
would willingly pay that sum if with it they could buy 
the favor of God, and get rid of the curse of sin. Yes, 
if money could do it, how many would buy salvation! 
But, thank God, it is not in the market for sale. You 
must buy it at God's price, and that is “without money 
and without price.”” Naaman found that out. 

And now, my dear friends, did you ever ask your- 
selves, Which is the worst—the leprosy of sin, or the 
leprosy of the body? For mv own part, I would a 
thousand times sooner have the leprosy of the body 
eating my eyes out, and my feet and arms, I would 
rather be loathsome in the sight of my fellow-men, than 
die with the leprosy of sin in my soul, and be damned. 
Oh, how it has pulled men down! The leprosy of the 
body is bad, but the leprosy of sin is a thousand times 
worse. It has cast angels out of heaven, it has ruined 


, Phe ete NR ei > 7 bat ey <= vile pecans hag s + ¢. 


, - 
. 


TAKING GOD'S WAY. 69 


the best and strongest men that ever lived in the world. 
: Oh, how it has pulled men down! The leprosy of the 
_ body could not do that. 
" But to proceed. There is one thing about Naaman 
that I like, and that is 


a 
is 
‘ HIS EARNESTNESS OF PURPOSE. 
4 


He was thoroughly in earnest. He was quite willing 
to go one hundred and fifty miles, and to take the 
advice of this little maid. A good many people say, 

, “Oh, I don’t like such and such a minister ; I should 

like to know where he comes from, and what he has 
; done, and whether any bishop has laid his hands on 
‘ his head.” 

My dear friends, never mind the minister, it is the 
message you want. If some one were to send me a — 
telegraph message, and the news were important, I 
shouldn't stop to ask about the messenger who brought 
it. I should want to read the news. I should look at 
the message, and not at the boy who brought it. 

And so it is with God’s message. The good news 
is everything, the minister nothing. The Syrians 
looked down with contempt on the Israelites, and yet 
this great man was willing to take the good news at 
the hands of this little maiden, and listen to the words 
that fell from her lips. If I got lost in London, I 
_ should be willing to ask anybody which way to go, 
even if it were only a shoeblack. It is the way I want, 
not the person who directs me. 

But there was one drawback in Naaman’s case. 
% Though he was willing to take the advice of the little 
* girl, he was not willing to take the remedy. 
‘a 


THE STUMBLING-BLOCK OF PRIDE 


stood in his way. The remedy the prophet offered 
him was a terrible blow to his pride. 
_I have no doubt he expected a grand reception from 


70 THE WAY HOME. 


the king of Israel, to whom he brought letters of 
introduction. He had been victorious on many a field 
of battle, and held high rank in the army; perhaps we 
may call him Major-General Naaman of Syria, or he 
might have been higher in rank even than that; and 
bearing with him kingly credentials, he expected no 
doubt a distinguished reception. But instead of the 
king rushing out to meet him, he, when he heard of 
Naaman’s arrival, and his object, simply rent his 
mantle, and said, 

“Am I God, to kill and to make alive?” 

But at last the king bethinks himself of Elisha the 
prophet, and he says, 

“There is a subject in my kingdom who may be able 
to help you and cure your leprosy.” 

And I can imagine Naaman’s pride reasoning thus: 
“Surely the prophet will feel very much exalted and 
flattered that I, the great Syrian general, should come 
and call upon him.” 

And so, probably, full of those proud thoughts, he 
drives up to the prophet’s humble dwelling with his 
chariot, four-in-hand, and his splendid retinue. As 
nobody seemed to be coming out to greet him, he 
sent in his message: 

“Tell the prophet Major-General Naaman of Syria 
has arrived, and wishes to see him.” 

Elisha takes it very coolly. He does not come out 
to see him, but as soon as he learns his errand he 
sends his servant to tell him to dip seven times in the 
river Jordan, and he shall be clean. 

Now that was a terrible blow to his pride! I can 
imagine him saying to his servant, 

“What did you say? Did I understand you aright? 
Dip seven times in Jordan! Why we call the river 
Jordan a ditch in our country.” 

But the only answer he got was, “The prophet says, 
Go and dip seven times in the Jordan, and thy flesh 
shall become like the flesh of a little child.” 

I can fancy Naaman’s indignation as he asks, “Are 


7 


“35 


TAKING GOD'S WAY. 71 


not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better 
than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, 
and be clean?” 

So he turned and went away in a rage. 

The fact was, the Jordan never had any great repu- 
tation as a river. It flowed into the Dead Sea, and that 
sea never had a harbor to it, and its banks were not 
half so beautiful as those of the rivers of Damascus; 
for Damascus was one of the most beautiful cities in 
the world. It is said that when Mahomet beheld it 
he turned his head aside for fear it should divert his 
thoughts from heaven. 

Naaman turned away in a rage. 

“Ah,” he said, “here am I, a great conqueror, a suc- 
cessful general on the battle-field, holding the very 
highest rank in the army, and yet this prophet does 
not even come out to meet me; he simply sends a 
message! Why, I thought he would surely come out 
to me, and stand and call on the name of the Lord 
his God, and strike his hand over the place and re- 
cover the leprosy.” 


“TI THOUGHT.” 


There it is! I hardly ever knew a man yet who, 
when talked to about his sins, didn’t say, 

“Yes, but I thought so and so.” 

“Mr. Moody,” they say, “I will tell you what J 
think; I will tell you my opinion.” 

In the 55th chapter of Isaiah it says, ““God’s thoughts 
are not our thoughts, nor His ways our ways.” And 
so it was with Naaman. In the first place he thought 
a good big doctor’s fee would do it all, and settle 
everything up. And besides that there was another 
thing he thought: he thought going to the king with 
his letters of introduction would do it. Yes, those were 
Naaman’s first thoughts. _ 

“T thought.” Exactly so. He turned away in rage 
and disappointment. He thought the prophet would 
have come out to him very humble and very subserv- 


72 THE WAY HOME, 


ient, and bid him do some great things. Instead of 


that Elisha, who was very likely busy writing, did not 
even come to the door or the window; he merely sent 
out the message, 

“Tell him to dip seven times in the Jordan.” 

And away went Naaman, saying, “J thought, I 


thought, I thought.” I have heard that tale so often’ 


that I am tired of it. I will tell you just what I 
think about it, and what I advise you to do—‘Give 
it up,’ and take God’s words, God’s thoughts, God’s 
ways. I never yet knew a man converted just in the 
time and manner he expected to be. I have heard peo- 
ple say, ““Well, if ever I am converted, it won’t be in a 
Methodist church; you won’t catch me there.” Now I 
never knew a man say that but, at last, if converted at 
all, it was in a Methodist church. A man to be con- 
verted has to give up his will, his ways, and his 
thoughts. God leads him in quite a contrary direction. 

And so Naaman, after his anger had abated and 
cooled down a little, took a second thought, which 
proved the best, although his pride had been so dread- 
fully humbled. 


THE SIMPLE REMEDY. 


Whilst Naaman was thus wavering in his mind, and 
thinking on what was best to be done, one of his 
servants drew near and made a very sensible remark: 

“My lord, if the prophet had bid thee do some great 
thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much 
rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be 
clean ?” 

Yes, there is a great deal of truth in that. If Elisha 
had said to him, “Go back to Syria on your hands 
and knees,” he would most likely have done it. Hi 
he had said, “Go back all the way on one foot,” he 
would have tried to do it. Or if he had said, “Give 
ten thousand pieces of gold for the medicine I shall 
offer thee, and thou shalt be cleansed,” no doubt he 
would have done it. But to tell him merely to dip in 


Paes ee 
; 


TAKING GOD'S WAY. 73 


the river. Jordan seven times, why it seemed absurd 
on the face of it! But this servant suggested to him 
that he had better go down to the Jordan and try the 
remedy as it was a very simple one. 

I can fancy Naaman still reluctant to believe in it, 
saying, 

“Why, if there is such cleansing power in the waters 
of Jordan, would not every leper in Israel go down and 
dip in them, and be healed ?” 

. “Well, but you know,” urges the servant, ‘Now 


* that you have come a hundred and fifty miles, don’t you 


think you had better do what he tells you? After 
all you can but try it; and he sends word distinctly, 
my lord, that your flesh shall come again as that of a 
little child.” 

So Naaman accepts this word in season. His anger 
is cooling down; he has got over the first flush of his 
indignation, and he says he might as well try it. That 
was the starting-point of his faith, although still he 
thought it a foolish thing, and could not bring himself 
to believe that the result would be what the prophet 
had said. 

How many men have told me right to my face they 
did not believe a man could be saved by simply obeying 
God. Faith, they thought, was not enough, they must 
do something. They will have it that there must be 
a little asking and reasoning, and striving, and wrest- 
ling with God, before they can get the blessing 


FOOLISH QUESTIONS. 


I recollect once praying with a man for his conver- 
sion, and just when I thought conviction had been 
brought home to him, he turned round, and said, 

“Who do you think Melchisedek was, Mr. Moody ?” 

And then I have had others who, when I have been 
praying with them that their sins might be taken 


‘away, would turn round, and ask me, 


“Do you believe in infant baptism, Mr. Moody?” 


94 THE WAY HOME. 


My friends, you need not trouble yourselves about 
those questions, but if you wish to be saved, just do 
as the Bible tells you. 


UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER, 


At last Naaman’s will was conquered, subdued, and 
broken; and he had faith, and he surrendered. When 
General Grant was besieging a town which was the 
stronghold of the southern Confederacy, some of the 
officers sent word that they would leave the city if he 
would let them go with their men. But General Grant 
sent word, 

“No, nothing but an unconditional surrender !” 

Then they sent word that they would go if he would 
let them take their flag with them. But the answer 
was, i 

“No, an unconditional surrender.” 

At last the beleaguered walls were broken down, 
and the city entered, and then the enemy made a 
complete and unconditional surrender. It was so with 
Naaman. He got to that point when he was willing 
to obey, and the Scripture tells us, “To obey is better — 
than sacrifice.” 

So he goes down to the river and takes the first dip. 
As he comes up, I can imagine him looking at himself, 
and saying to his servant, 

“There, there I am, no better than I was when I went 
in. If one-seventh of the leprosy was gone, I should 
be content.” 

Well, down he goes a second time, and he comes up 
puffing and blowing as much a leper as ever; and so 
he goes down again and again, the third, fourth, fifth, 
and sixth time, with the same result, as much a leper 
as ever. And the people standing on the banks of 
the river probably said, as they certainly would in 
our day, 

“Why that man has gone clean out of his mind! y 


oe ei, 
\ 


TAKING GOD’S WAY. 75 


So when he comes up the sixth time, he looks at 
himself, and says, 

“Ah, no better! What a fool I have made of my- 
self. How they will laugh at me! I wouldn't 
have the generals and aristocracy of Damascus know 


that I have been dipping in this way in Jordan for all 


the world. However, as I have gone so far, I’ll make 
the seventh plunge.” 

He has not altogether lost faith, and down he goes 
the seventh time, and comes up again. He looks at 
himself and shouts aloud for joy. 

“Lo, I am well! My leprosy is all gone, all gone! 
My flesh has come again as that of a little child! I 
never knew such a thing. I never felt so happy in 
all my life. I thought I was a great and a happy man 
when I accomplished that victory; but, thank God, 
I am the happiest man alive!” 

So he comes up out of Jordan and puts on his 
clothes, and goes back to the prophet, and wants to pay 
him. That’s just the old story, Naaman wants to 
give money for his cure. How many people want to 
do the same nowadays! Why, it would have spoiled 
the story of grace if the prophet had taken anything. 
You may give a thank-offering to God’s cause, not 
to purchase salvation, but because you are saved. The 
prophet Elisha refused to take anything, and I can 
imagine no one felt more rejoiced than he did. 

So Naaman starts back to Damascus a very different 
man than he was when he left it. The dark cloud 
has gone from his mind: he is no longer a leper, in 
fear of dying from a loathsome disease. He lost the 
leprosy in Jordan when he did what the man of God 
told him; and if you obey the voice of God, even 
while I am speaking to you, the burden of your sins 
will fall from off you, and you shall be cleansed. It 
is all done by the power of faith. 

You may be sure when he got home there was no 
small stir in Naaman’s house. I can just see his wife, 


7 na THE WAY HOME, 


Mrs. Naaman, when he gets back. She has been 


watching and looking out of the window for him with 
a great burden on her heart. And when she asks him, 
“Well, husband, how is it?” I can see the tears run- 
ning down his cheeks as he says, ““Thank God, I am 
well!” ‘They embrace each other, and pour out mutual 
expressions of rejoicing and gladness; and the sery- 
ants are just as glad as their master and mistress, as 
they have been waiting eagerly for the news; and there 
never was a happier household than Naaman’s now 
that he has got rid of the leprosy. And so, my friends, 
it will be with your own households if you will only get 
rid of the leprosy of sin to-day. Not only will there 
be joy in your own hearts and at home, but there will 
also be joy among the angels in heaven, 

Another thought is suggested to us by this history 
of Naaman in the 15th verse of the chapter; and which 
shows what Naaman’s faith led him to believe. “And 
he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, 
and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, 
now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but 
in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing 
of thy servant.” I want particularly to call your 
attention to the words, 


“7 KNOW.” 


There is no hesitation about it, no qualifying the 
expression. Naaman doesn’t now say, “I think”; no 
he says, ‘J know there is a God who has power to for- 
give sins and to cleanse the leprosy.” 

Then there is another thought. Naaman left only 
one thing in Samaria, and that was his sin, his leprosy. 
The only thing God wishes you to leave with Him is 
your sin; and yet it is the only thing you seem not to 
care about giving up. 

“Oh,” you say, “I love it, it is so delightful, I can’t 
give it up; I know God wants it, that He may make 
me clean. But I can’t give it up.” 


see 
¢ ted, 


Pee en Pa 


1 pte ates 


Pekar? 


TAKING GOD’S WAY. 77 


Why, what downright madness it is for you to love 
leprosy; and yet that is your condition! 

“Ah, but,” says someone, “I don’t believe in sudden 
conversions.” 

Don't you? Well, how long did it take Naaman to 


be cured? The seventh time he went down, away 


went the leprosy! Read the great conversions re- 
corded in the Bible—Saul of Tarsus, Zacchzeus, and 
a host of others ; how long did it take the Lord to bring 
them about? They were effected ina minute. We are 
born in iniquity, shapen in it, dead in trespasses and 
sin; but when spiritual life comes it comes in a mo- 
ment, and we are freed both from sin and death. 

One day as I was walking down the street, I heard 
some people laughing and talking aloud, and one of 
them said, 

“Well, there will be no difference, it will be all the 
same a hundred years hence.” 

The thought flashed across my mind, “Will there 
be no difference? Where will you be 


A HUNDRED YEARS HENCE?” 


Young man, just ask yourself the question, “Where 
shall I be?” Some of you who are getting on in years 
may be in eternity ten years hence. Where will you 
be, on the left or the right hand of God? I cannot 
tell your feelings, but I can my own. 

A hundred years hence all this vast audience will 
be gone.’ Some will probably be gone in less than a 
week, in less than a month or a year, and at the best 
we shall all be gone in a few more years. I ask you 
once again, “Where will you spend eternity? Where 
will you be a hundred years hence?” 


THE CONVERTED NOBLEMAN. 


I heard of a man who came a few years ago from 


78 THE WAY HOME, 


the continent, and brought letters with him to eminent 
physicians from the emperor who said, 

“This man is a personal friend of mine, and we are 
afraid he is going to lose his reason; do all you can 
for him.” 

The doctor asked him if he had lost any dear friend 
in his own country, or any position of importance, or 
what it was that was weighing on his mind. And the 
young man said, 

“No, but my father and grandfather and myself were 
brought up infidels, and for the last two or three years 
this thought has been haunting me, ‘Where shall I 
spend eternity?’ The thought of it follows me day 
and night.” : 

The doctor said, “You have come to the wrong 
physician, but I will tell you of one who can cure you” ; 
and he told him of Christ, and read to him the 53d 
chapter of Isaiah, “With His stripes we are healed.” 

The young man said, “Doctor, do you believe that?” 

The doctor told him that he did, and prayed and 
wrestled with him, and at last the clear light of Cal- 
vary shone on his soul, and later he was writing to 
this doctor as only one Christian can to another. He 
had settled the question in his own mind at last where 
he would spend eternity; and I ask you sinners to 
settle it before you leave this hall to-night. It is for 
you to decide. Shall it be with the saints, and martyrs, 
and prophets, or in the dark caverns of hell, amidst 
blackness and darkness for ever? Make haste to be 
wise; for “how shall we escape if we neglect so great 
a salvation ?” . 


DECIDE NOW. 


At our church in Chicago I was closing the meeting 
one day, when a young soldier got up and entreated 
the people to decide for Christ at once. He said he 
had just come from a dark scene. A comrade of his, 
who had enlisted with him, had a father who was 
always entreating him to become a Christian, and in 


ie 


TAKING GOD'S WAY. 79 


reply he always said he would when the war was over. 
At last he was wounded, and was put into the hospital, 
but he got worse and was gradually sinking. One day 
a few hours before he died, a letter came from his 
sister, but he was too bad to read it. Oh, it was such 
an earnest letter! The comrade read it to him, but he 
did not seem to understand it, he was so weak, till it 
came to the last sentence, which said, 

“Oh, my dear brother, when you get this letter, will 
you not accept your sister’s Saviour?” 

The dying man sprang up from his cot, and said, 
“What do you say? what do you say?” and then, fall- 
ing back on his pillow, feebly exclaimed, “Jt is too late! 
It is too late!” 

My dear friends, thank God it is not too late for you 
to-day. The Master is still calling you. Let every one 
of us, young or old, rich and poor, come to Christ at 
once, and He will cleanse us of the leprosy of sin, and 
make us clean and white by His own precious blood! 


“SON, REMEMBER.” 


Luke 16: 25. 


In another place of the Scripture we read of the 


“worm that dieth not” and the “fire that is not 
quenched.” I believe the ’ worm” spoken of is mem- 
ory. I believe that is what is going to make hell so 
terrible to those that have lived in a Gospel land, is to 


think what they might have been, to think how they 


might have spent eternity in that world of light. 

Now we read in this portion of Scripture that this 
rich man is in another world. His soul has left the 
body, he has gone beyond time, and he is now in 
another world. Some people say that when we preach 
about hell it is only to terrify the people—only to alarm 
them. Now I am no alarmist, and if I could terrify 
any one, and try to scare them into the kingdom of 
God, I would not. But at the same time, if I am to be 
a messenger: for God, I must tell the whole message— 
I must not keep back any part of the Word of God. 
The same Christ that tells us of heaven with all its 
glories tells us of hell with all its horrors; and no one 
will accuse Christ of drawing this picture to terrify 
people, or to alarm them, if it were not true. 

This ‘picture is one that He has drawn Himself. I 
have read some sermons about hell, but I never read 
one more terrible than this one. I have never seen 
a picture drawn more fearful than this one that is 
drawn here, of a rich man “clothed in purple and fine 
linen,” and who “fared sumptuously every day” while 


he was in this world; but we catch a glimpse of him — 


in another world, and we find him there lifting up his 
voice in hell, and crying in torment. 

Some tell us there is no hell and some that there is 
no heaven. If I had to give up one, I would have to 
give up the other. The same Bible that tells us of 
heaven tells us of hell. The same Saviour that came 


80 


ae sea Se 


he 2 Pte ke el ed 
a A ~ . 


a? 
: 


“SON, REMEMBER.” 81 


down from heaven to tell us about heaven, tells us 
about hell. He speaks about our escaping the damna- 
tion of hell, and there is no one that has lived since 
that could tell us as much about it as Himself. If 
there is no hell, let us burn our Bibles. Why spend 


so much time studying the Bible? Why spend so much 


time and so much money in building churches? Let 
us turn our churches into places of commerce or of 
amusement. Let us eat and drink and be merry, for 
we will soon be gone if there is no hereafter. Let us 
build a monument for Paine and Voltaire. Let us 
build a tomb over Christianity, and shout over it, 
“There is no hell to receive us, there is no God to 
condemn sin ; there is no heaven, there is no hereafter !”” 
_ Let us bein earnest. If there is a heaven and a hell, 
then let us act as.God would have us act. God was in 
earnest when He gave Christ to die for us. Christ 
Was in earnest when He went to Calvary and suffered 
that terrible death—it was to save us from that terrible 
hell. If I believed there was no hell, you would not 


' find me going from town to town, spending day and 


night preaching and proclaiming the Gospel, and urg- 
ing men to escape the damnation of hell. I would take 


’ things easy. 


Oh, my friends, I cannot but believe it! And if there 
is any one here in doubt about it, why not be honest? 


_. If you believe you have a Creator, why not ask Him to 


give you light about the future? There was a time 
when I did not believe it; but God revealed it to me. 
It is a matter of revelation. It is Satan that is telling 
us there is no hereafter and no hell, because the Word 
of God teaches it so plainly. And if there is a hell, 
we had better find it out before we get there; it is a 
good deal better for us to find it out here than to be 
laughing and joking about it. It makes me feel very 
sad to hear men speaking so flippantly about hell, and 
making jokes about it. God is not to be trifled with. 
Think of this man in that lost world crying for one 
drop of water, and then asking that Abraham might 
6 


a baa 
82 THE WAY HOME. 


send one to comfort him; but there was a gulf fixed 
that no man could cross! God has fixed that gulf. 


THE TIME OF SEPARATION. 


The time is coming when there will be a separation. 
The time is coming when that praying wife and that 
godless, Christless husband shall be separated. The 
time is coming when that godly, sainted mother will 
be lifted up to heaven, and that scorning, infidel son 
will be cast down to hell unless he is wise and accepts 
of salvation. 

Now the thought I want to bring out is just this— 
that there is 


MEMORY IN HELL. 


What did Abraham say to this man? “Son, remember.” 
Oh, may this text be engraved on your heart! 

“Son, remember.” God wants you to wake up and 
remember before it is too late. It is a good deal better 
for a man to be wise, and stop and think while he has 
the privilege of changing his mind, if he is wrong, 
than it is to go on like a madman and be cast into the 
prison-house of hell. Then he will have to think; yes, 
memory will be keen then to act, but it will be too 
late to make any change. ; 

I have been twice at the point of death. I was drown-_ 
ing once, and just as I was going down the third time 
I was rescued. In the twinkling of an eye my whole 
life came flashing across my mind. I cannot tell you 
how it was. I cannot tell you how a whole life can 
be crowded into a second of time; but everything I 
had done from my earliest childhood—it all came flash- 
ing across my mind. And I believe, that when God 
touches the secret spring of memory, every one of our 
sins will come back, and if they have not been blotted 
out by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, they will 
haunt us as eternal ages roll on, We talk about our ~ 


ih ell 


“SON, REMEMBER.” 83 


forgetting, but we cannot forget if God says, “Remem- 
ber!” We talk about the recording angel keeping the 
record of our life. I have an idea that when we get to 
heaven or, into eternity, we will find that recording 
angel has been ourselves. God will make every one of 
us keep our own record. These memories will keep 
the record, and- when God shall say, “Son, remember,” 
it will all flash across our mind. It won’t be God who 
will condemn us, it will be ourselves. We shall con- 
demn ourselves, and we shall stand before God speech- 
less. 

There is a man in prison. He has been there five 
years. Ask that man what makes the prison so terrible 
to him. Ask him if it is the walls and the iron gates— 
ask him if it is his hard work, and he will tell you no; 
he will tell you what makes the prison so terrible to 
him is memory. And I have an idea that if we got 
down into the lost world, we would find that is what 
makes hell so terrible—the remembrance that they once 
heard the Gospel, that they once had Christ offered 
to them, that they once had the privilege of being 
saved, but they made light of the Gospel, they neglected 
salvation, they rejected the offer of mercy, and now if 
they would they could not. 


A MISSIONARY SPIRIT IN HELL, 


We find this rich man had a desire to get out of that 
place of torment. He had a missionary spirit when 
he got there, for he said, 

“Send some one to my father’s house, and warn my 
five brethren. Oh, send some one to tell them not to 
come to this place of torment!” 

Yes, it would have been better if he had had a mis- 
sionary spirit before he had got there! It would be 
better for you that you should wake up and come to 
the Lord Jesus Christ, and go to work to save your 
frierds while you are on praying ground, and in this 


84 THE WAY HOME. 


world. Your missionary spirit won’t help you when 
you are in hell; it won’t help you when you are in the 
lost world. Yes, memory, memory! “Son, remember.” 


CAINS MEMORY. 


If Cain is in that lost world to-night, no doubt he 
can remember the pleading of his brother Abel. He 
can remember how he looked when he smote him— 
he can hear that piercing cry to-night, he has not for- 
gotten it. All these long years Cain remembers what 
he might have been, how he despised the God of grace, 
and how he lost his soul. Thousands of years have 
rolled away, but still Cain ha. to think; he cannot help 
but think. 

I have no doubt but that Judas remembers how 


Christ preached that sermon he heard on the moun- 


tain, how Christ looked when He wept over Jerusalem, 
and he can see those tears to-night, he can hear that 
voice as He cried'over Jerusalem, “O Jerusalem, Jeru- 
salem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them 
that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gath- 
ered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her 
chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” He 
hears that cry; he can see that kind, mild, gentle look 
of the Son of God. He can hear that voice as Christ 
said to him in Gethsemane, 

“Betrayest thou the Master with a kiss?” 

Yes, memory is at work. His memory woke up 
before he died, when he went out and destroyed him- 
self, taking his remorse and despair with him into the 
lost world. 


NOAH’S CONTEMPORARIES. 


Do you think those antediluvians have forgotten how 
Noah pleaded with them? ‘They laughed at the ark. 
I have no doubt, if you had gone and preached to them 


a week before the flood, and told them that there was © 


a hell, not one would have believed it. If you had told 


“SON, REMEMBER.” 85 


them that there was to be a deluge, and that God was 


; going to sweep them away from the earth, they would 
_ not have believed it. But did it change the fact? 
’ Did not the flood come and take them all away ? 

{ You might have gone to Sodom and told the Sodom- 
; ites that God was going to destroy Sodom, and they 
: would have laughed at you, just as men make light 
of and laugh at hell. But did it change the fact? Did 
not God destroy the cities of the plain? 

a So with Jerusalem. Christ told how destruction 
‘ would come upon it, and they mocked at Him and 


crucified Him. But look down the stream of time! In 

forty short years Titus came up against that city and 

besieged it, and there were a million that perished 

: within it. Yes, those Jerusalem sinners can remember 

3 in the lost world to-night how Christ wept over Jeru- 

salem, how He walked their streets, how He went into 

the temple and preached, and how He pleaded with 

them to escape for their life, and to flee the damnation 

of hell; but they mocked on, they laughed on, they 

made light until it was too late, and they are gone now. 

Oh, may God wake up this audience, and may every 

man and woman here before it is too late escape for 

f their lives! ‘How shall we escape,” says the apostle, 
“if we neglect so great salvation?” 


NO BIBLE IN THE LOST WORLD. 


There will be no Bible in the lost world to be a lanip 
to your feet and a light to your path, to guide you to 
eternal mansions. You make light of the Bible now; 
you laugh at its teachings; but bear in mind, there will 
; be no Bible in the lost world. You have a Bible here. 
i Had you not better take it now, had you not better read 
; it. had you not better believe it? 

I have not any doubt if a man had gone to that rich 
man a week before he was taken away he would have 
told you he did not believe in the Bible, he did not 
: believe in a place of torment, he did not believe a 


86 HE WAY HOME. 


word of it. But did that change the fact? He found 
it out when it was too late. And there was no Bible 
there to help him out. 

There was no minister there to go and preach to 
him. Yes, bear in mind, if you get into that lost world, 
there will be no minister to pray for you, no earnest 
sermons preached there; it will be too late then. 

There will be no Sabbath school teacher there. Iam _ 
speaking now to some young people that are in the 
Sabbath school, and who have praying teachers. Bear 
in mind, you will have no teacher there to weep over 
you, to pray for you, to plead with you to come to 
Christ. 

I may be speaking to some young man who has had 
some friend come and put his hand upon his shoulder, 
and ask him to come to Christ. You made light of 
that, young man. You laughed at him, and you cavilled 
at him. Bear in mind, there will be no friend to come 
and put his hand upon your shoulder, and speak loving 
words to you there. “Son, remember.” If you have 
friends that are anxious for your soul’s salvation here, 
and they are pleading for you, treat them kindly; you 
will not have them in that lost world. Do not laugh 
at them; it is God that sent the loving message to you. 

I may be speaking to some young man who has a 
godly, praying mother. You are hasting to ruin, and 
breaking a mother’s heart. Oh, young man, make that 
mother’s heart glad to-night by telling her you have 
accepted her God as your God, her Saviour as your 
Saviour, that you are not going down to death and 
ruin, but that you will meet her in glory. Oh, may 
God meet every soul in this assembly, and may every 
eye and heart be opened to receive the truth! 

You come here to-night to hear Mr. Sankey sing, 
“Jesus of Nazareth Passeth By”; but bear in mind, you 
will not hear that song in the lost world; or, if you do, 
it will not be true—He does not pass that way. To- 
night He is passing by! I beg of you, do not make 
light of the Lord Jesus and His offer of mercy. He 


“SON, REMEMBER.” 87 


comes to save you from a terrible hell. He wants to 
redeem every soul here to-night. 

And now while I am speaking, hundreds and thou- 
sands of Christians are lifting up their hearts silently 
to God for your salvation. May God answer their 
prayers, and may there be many to-night that shall be 
saved. Now you have a golden opportunity. Jesus 
is truly passing this way. Why do you doubt that 
He has been in our midst to-night? ‘There has not 
been a night that a great many have not gone into the 
inquiry-room and have taken us by the hand, and said 
“T have accepted Christ, I have found Him to-night,’ 
showing that the Lord Jesus Christ is in our midst. 
He is saving some ; why should not He save you? And 
while He is passing, and so many are believing on Him, 
why won’t you receive Him? My friends, God does 
not want you to perish, He wants you to be saved. 
God does not want a soul in this vast assembly to be 
lost, He wants every one to be in glory. And if you 
will accept His Son as a gift from Him, if you will 
accept the Lord Jesus, you can be saved. 


AN UNBELIEVING MOTHER. 


I was standing by the inquiry-room door in another 
place a few months ago, and I saw a lady weeping. 
I spoke to her; but a woman seized her by the hand 
and pushed her away from me. I said, 

“What is the trouble?” 

“Why,” she said, “this is my daughter, and I don’t 
want her to be associated with Christians; I hate 
Christians.” 

I tried to reason with that mother, but she pulled 
her daughter away weeping, the daughter pleading 
with the mother to stay. 

Is there such a mother here to-night? May God 
have mercy upon you! It is a thousand times better 
for your daughters and your children to be associated 
with Christians than it is to have them go down to 


88 THE WAY HOME. 


death and .be associated with fiends as eternal ages go 

on. All workers of iniquity shall be cast into the lake 

of fire, but those whose names are written in the book 

of life shall have a right to the tree of life, and shall 

walk the crystal pavement of heaven. Oh, may God 

help you to be wise to-night, to flee from your old 

companions and associates, and lay hold of eternal life! 

Do not trifle with this great subject. Be wise, and 
accept salvation as it comes from God. 


AN UNFILIAL SON. 


I was once told of a father that had a son who had 
broken his mother’s heart. After her death he went 
on from bad to worse. One night he was going out to ~ 
spend it in vice, and the old man went to the door as 
the younger one was going out, and said, ; 

“My son, I want to ask a favor of you to-night. You 
have not spent one night with me since your mother 
was buried, and I have been so lonesome without 
her and without you, and now I want to have you 
spend tonight with me. I want to have a talk with 
you about the future.” 

The young man said, “No, father, I do not want 
to stay; it is gloomy here at home.” 

“Won't you stay for my sake?” 

The son said he would not. 

At last the old man said, “If I cannot persuade you 
to stay, if you are determined to go down to ruin, and 
to break my heart as you have your mother’s—for 
these gray hairs cannot stand it much longer—you 
shall not go without my making one more effort to 
Save you.’ 

He threw open the door, and laid himself upon the 
threshold, and said, 

“Tf you go out to- -night you must go over this old 
body of mine.’ ; 

What did that young man do? Why, he leaped 
over the father, and on to ruin he went, 


“SON, REMEMBER.” 89 


Now there is not a man or woman here who would 
not say that young man was an ungrateful, wretch. Did 
you ever think that God has given His Son? Yes, He 
has laid Him (as it were) right across your path that 
you might not go down to hell; and if there is a soul in 
this assembly that goes to hell, you must go over the 
murdered body of God’s Son, you must trample the 
blood of Christ under your feet. No sooner did the 
news reach heaven that Adam had fallen, than God 
came down and made a way of escape. God so loved 
the world that He gave Christ to die that you and I 
might live. Do not make light of that blessed Saviour. 
Do not sit here and have that scornful look upon your 
brow, but lift up your heart to God, and say, “God be 
merciful to me a sinner.” Receive the gift of God! 

If the Spirit of God is striving with you, let me plead 
with you. Treat Him kindly. Bear in mind that God 
has said that His Spirit shall not always strive. There 
have been many, I believe, that have been awakened, 
and the Spirit of God has been striving with you; and 
now let me plead with you as a friend—just give your- 
self up to the leading of the Spirit of God. The Spirit 
of God will lead us aright; He never makes any mis- 
take. God has sent Him from heaven into this world 
to lead us out of darkness into light, and the Spirit is 
drawing you to Christ. Do not resist Him; do not 
reject Him. I do not ask you to think or to believe 
what I say; all I ask is, believe what God tells you; 
believe what the Spirit of God will reveal to you about 
Christ; and if the Spirit of God is striving with you, 
do not quench or resist Him, but to-night just open the 
door of your heart and let Him come in, and it will 
be a thousand times better for you in this life and in 
the life to come. 

A few years ago I was about to close a meeting, and 
said, 

“Are there any here that would like to have me re- 
Scag them in prayer? I would like to have them 
arise !” 


yi a te Oe Eee ‘ rs - 
i 2 a 

f, 

b 


90 THE WAY HOME. 


A man rose 2ad when I saw him stand up, my heart 
leaped in me for joy. I had been anxious for him a 
long time. I went to him as soon as the meeting was 
over, and took him by the hand, and said, 

“You are coming out for God, are you not?” 

“T want to,” he said, “‘and I have made up my mind 
to be a Christian, only there is one thing stands in my 
way.’ 

“What is that?” I said. 

“Well,” he said, “I lack moral courage. If he had 
been here to-night (naming a friend of his), I should 
not. have risen; and I am afraid when he hears I have 
risen for prayer he will begin to laugh at me, and I 
won't have the moral courage to stand up for Christ.” 

I said, “If Christ is what He is represented in the 
Bible, He is worth standing up for; and if heaven is 
what we are told it is in the Bible, it is worth our © 
living for.” He said he lacked moral courage, and was 
trembling from head to foot. I thought he was just at 
the very threshold of heaven, and that one step more 
was going to take him in, and that he would take the 
step that night. I talked and prayed with him, and 
the Spirit seemed to be striving mightily with him, 
but he did not get light. Night after night he came, 
and the Spirit still strove with him; but just that one 
thing kept him—he lacked moral courage. At last 
the Spirit of God who had striven with him so mightily 
seemed to leave him, and there was no more striving. 
He left off coming to church, was off among his old 

companions, and would not meet me in the street—he 
was ashamed to do so. : 

About six months afterwards I got a message from 
him, and found him on what he thought his dying-bed. 
He wanted to know if there was any hope for him at 
the eleventh hour. I tried to tell him there was hope 
for any man that would accept Christ. I prayed with 
him, and day after day visited him. : 

Contrary to all expectations, he began to recover. 


. 


“SON, REMEMBER.” gI 


When he was convalescent, finding him one day sit- 
ting in front of his house, I sat by his side, and said, 

“You will soon be well enough to come up to the 
church, and when you are, you will come up, and you 
are just going to confess Christ boldly, are not you?” 

“Well,” said he, ‘I promised God when I was on 
what we thought my dying-bed I would serve Him, 
and I made up my mind to be a Christian; but I am 
not going to be one just now. Next spring I am going 
over by Lake Michigan, and I am going to buy a farm, 
and settle down, and then I am going to be a Chris- 
tian.” “How dare you talk in that way!” I said. “How 
do you know you are going to live till next spring? 
Have you a lease of your life?” ‘I never was better 
than I am now,” he said, “I am a little weak, but I will 
soon have my strength. I havea fresh lease of my life, 
and will be well for a good many years yet.” 

“It seems to me you are tempting God,” and I 
pleaded with him to come out boldly. 

“No,” he said, “the fact is, I have not the courage 
to face my old companions, and I cannot serve God 
in Chicago.” “If God has not grace enough to keep 
you in Chicago,” I said, “He has not in Michigan.” 

I urged him then and there to surrender soul and 
body to the Lord Jesus, but the more I urged him the 
more irritated he got, till at last he said, 

“Well, you need not trouble yourself any more about 
my soul; I will attend to that. If I am lost, it will 
be my own fault. I will take the risk.” 


A FEARFUL DEATH-BED. 


I left him, and within a week I got a message from 
his wife. Going to the house, I met her at the door 
weeping. I said, 

“What is the trouble?” 

“Oh, sir, I have just had a council of physicians 
here, and they have all given my husband up to die; 
tmey say he cannot live.” 


/ 
g2 - THE WAY HOME. 


“Does he want to see me?” I asked. 

“No.” 

“Why did you send for me?” 

“Oh,” she said, ‘I cannot bear to see him die in this 
terrible state of mind.” 

“What i is his state of mind?” 

“He says that his damnation is sealed, and he will 
be in hell in a little while.” 

I went into the room, but he turned his head away. — 

“How is it with you! 2” T said. 

Not a word! He was as silent as death. I ue 
the second time, but he made no response. I looked 
him in the face, and called him by name, and said, 

“Will you not tell me how it is with your” 

He turned, fixed that awful deathly look upon me, 
and, pointing to the stove, he said, 

“My heart is as hard as the iron in that stove. It is 
too late! My damnation is sealed, and I shall be in 
hell in a little while.” 

“Don’t talk so,” I said, “you can be saved now if you 
will.” 

“Don’t you mock me, I know better,” he replied. 

I talked with him, and quoted promise after promise, 
but he said not one was for him. 

“Christ has come knocking at the door of my heart 
many a time, and the last time He came I promised to 
let Him in, and when I got well I turned away from 
Him again, and now I have to perish without Him.” 

I talked, but saw that I was doing no good, and so 
I threw myself on my knees. 

“You can pray for my wife and my children,” he 
said, “you need not pray for me. It is a waste of your 
time. It is too late!” 

I tried to pray, but it seemed as if what he said was 
true—as if the heavens were as brass over me. 

I rose and took his hand. It seemed to me as if I 
were bidding farewell to a friend that I never was to 
see again in time or in eternity. 

He lingered till the sun went down. His wife told ” 


oe 


: 


‘ 


Fi e.) as i= ab 1 So a ” 
a om 
wih y : 


if “SON, REMEMBER.” 93 


me his end was terrible. All that he was heard to 
say were these fearful words, “The harvest is past 
the summer is ended, and I am not saved!” There 
he lay, and every little while he would take up the 
awful lamentation, “The harvest is past, the summer 
is ended, and I am not saved!” Just as the sun was 
sinking behind those western prairies he was going 
into the arms of death. As he was expiring, his wife 
noticed that his lips were quivering, he was trying to 
say something. She reached over her ear, and all she 
could hear was, “The harvest is past, the summer is 
ended, and I am not saved!” and the angels bore him 
to the judgment. 

He lived a Christless life, he died a Christless death. 
We wrapped him in a Christless shroud and nailed him 
in a Christless coffin, and bore him to a Christless 
grave. Oh, how dark! oh, how sad! 

I may be speaking to some one to-night, and the 
harvest may be passing with you, the summer may be 
ending—oh, be wise to-night and accept the Lord Jesus 
Christ as your Saviour! Believe that He bore your 
sins in His own body on the cross, and be saved. May 
God’s blessing rest upon us all, and may we meet in 
glory, is the prayer of my heart! 


HEAVEN. AND HOW "“TG@3Ger 
THERE; 


My subject on this occasion is heaven. Oh, what a 
subject it is! How full of meaning to us all! A sub- 
ject that brims over with glories and joys, that savors 
of crowns, and harps, and everlasting life! 

On this important matter how are we to gain reliable 
information ? Simply by Scripture, as stated in 2 
Timothy 3:16: “All Scripture is given by inspiration 
of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for 
correction, for instruction in righteousness.” Here, 
then, is our guide-book, our text-book—the Word of 
God. If I utter a syllable that is not justified by the 
Scriptures, don’t believe me. ‘The Bible is the only 
tule. Walk by it, and by it alone. May God grant that 
the eyes of our understanding may be opened, that we 
may learn something of that land above, that home He 
is preparing for them that love Him! 

I say, then, that the Scriptures are our sole guide in 
seeking for any information about heaven. ‘Take up 
the Word of God prayerfully and reverently, and the 
Holy Spirit will reveal unto us the things of God. But 
some don’t care about investigating this subject; they 
don’t think it is worth their while. They say, “We 
shall see it when we get there.” Ah, if you had to 
spent an eternity in some particular place, you would 
be anxious enough to learn all you could about it— 
what kind of place it was, and what kind of company 
you would meet there! 

Well, let us inquire, then, 


(1) WHERE IS HEAVEN? 


It is not down, beneath, in the bowels of the earth; 
it is not on the earth, in some far away land yet un- 
visited by mortal man. No; we are constantly told 


94 


HEAVEN AND HOW ‘TO GET THERE. 95 


in Scripture that heaven is above; it is on high. It is 
thus represented in the Bible on occasions when God is 
spoken to, as, for instance, in Deut. 26:15: ‘Look 
down from Thy holy habitation.” So we might turn 
over passage after passage to show this. Mark some 
of them, and refer to them: Deut. 30:12; Psalm 
103: 11, “High above the earth;” Psalm 139: 8; Isaiah 
63:15; Luke 24:51. The Bible represents heaven as 
being always above, and never below. 

Again, when Jesus was leaving this world, He led 
His disciples out of the city over the Mount of Olives, 
where they had so often walked together, past the 
garden where He had suffered His terrible agony, and 
where that sad scene of treachery took place, out as 
far as Bethany, and there, after He had spoken His 
last loving words, and given His final commands, “He 
was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their 
sight.” (Acts 1:9-11.) Ah, heaven is perhaps nearer 
than we imagine—up there, just beyond the azure blue, 
it may be! 

When Jesus had ascended there, He looked back and 
saw His poor followers gazing up into heaven after 
Him, unable to reconcile themselves to the thought 
that they would never more see Him, walk with Him, 
or speak to Him on this earth. How His loving heart 
felt for them. He commanded two of His servants, - 
the angels, 

“Go down, and comfort My disciples: tell them not 
to mourn; for they shall see Me again.” 

Quick as lightning the two bright angels came on 
their errand of love, and whilst the disciples had 
scarcely yet made sure that they had really lost sight 
of Jesus, lo! “two men stood by them in white apparel, 
which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye 
gazing up into heaven? ‘This same Jesus which is 
taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like 
manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.” 

They believed that heaven was above, on high. How 
could they believe otherwise? They had seen Him go 


4 


cy ae THE WAY HOME. 


up; they had seen Him ascend from them higher and 
higher, a cloud received Him out of their sight. 


(2) ITS INHABITANTS. 


It is the dwelling place of God, whose glory fills the 
whole earth. He is there. His peculiar dwelling-place, 
His throne, His habitation is there. (2 Chron. 6: 21.) 
King Solomon’s prayer when the temple had been con- 
secrated, and he was praying to God to hear prayer 
and bless His people, was, “Hear Thou from Thy 
dwelling-place, even from heaven.” Isaiah 66: 1: “The 
heaven is ‘My throne.” And this was quoted in Acts 
7:49: “Heaven is My throne.” Again in Psalm 123: 1: 
“Unto Thee lift I up mine eyes, O Thou that dwellest 
in the heavens.” Again, Psalm 33:13, 14; and Psalm 
11:4: “The Lord’s throne is in heaven.” 

Surely that is a sweet thought. If I am to spend my 
eternity in heaven, I like to know and to be assured 
that my Father is there, and to feel that He is there 
ruler over all—that He is the first, the chiefest, the 
holiest, the highest in all high heaven, “King of kings, 
and Lord of lords.”” ‘I dwell in the heavens,” says the 
Almighty God; and yet, “If My people shall humble | 
themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from 
their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and 
will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” (2 
Chron. 7:14.) Though He is high and mighty, yet 
“He dwells also with him who is of a humble and 
a contrite spirit.” 

Yes, that is one of His greatest and most wonderful 
characteristics—He is the hearer and answerer of 
prayer. As an instance of this, see Daniel 2:18, where 
there is a prayer that God would reveal to His servants, — 
not only the interpretation of a dream, but even the 
dream itself. ‘Is there anything too hard for the 
Lord?” No. In the very next verse we have the 
answer right back, as it were, by telegraph from 


/ 


oe 


tye Mk 1A 
a + eG, : 


HEAVEN AND HOW TO GET THERE. 97 


heaven, 19th verse: “Then was the secret revealed unto 
Daniel in a night vision.” 

The Scripture is full of such answers; every page of 
it encourages prayer. God will have us pray, and He 
will answer prayer. Surely we have all found out 
that in our experience; if not, it is our own fault. “The 
arm of the Lord is not shortened that it cannot save.” 
It is our own prayers that are shortened, and that are 
weak and faithless. Oh, let us “ask in faith, nothing 
wavering!” Some people are like the disciples in Jeru- 
salem praying for the release of Peter: their prayers 
were answered, and Peter stood at the door, but they 
could not believe it; they said it must be his spirit. 
Oh, let us take God at His word! He says, “While 
they are yet speaking, I will answer.” Is not that 
encouraging. He delights to hear our prayers; He 
will not weary with our often coming. 

In the prayer which Christ taught His disciples, 
“Our Father which art in heaven.” ‘Think of that 
word “art.” He is now, at the present moment, in 
heaven. It is no thing of the past—no old story. No; 
He is there now, making heaven bright with His pres- 
ence, and glorious with the radiance of His majesty. 


He is there on high. 


But who may use this prayer, “Our Father which 
art in heaven”? Examine its context. The disciples 
when alone with Jesus said, “Lord, teach us to pray.” 
And this was the answer they got; they were taught 
this precious prayer: “In this manner pray ye: Our 
Father which art in heaven.” It was taught by Jesus 
to His chosen disciples; then it is only for Christians. 
No man who is unconverted can, or has any right to, 
pray thus. Christ taught His piscip.es, not all men, 


_ not the multitude, to pray like this. 


A man must be born again before he has any right 
to breathe this prayer. It is the second birth that 
makes us “sons of the living God.” What right has 
any man living in sin and in open enmity with God 


98 THE WAY HOME. 
> xy 

to lift up his voice and say, “Our, or my Father’? It 

is a lie, and nothing else, for him to say this. Such 

language is intended for God’s own sanctified people, 

and no others. 

“What shall I do then?” cries some poor lost sinner ; 

“T want to be saved; I want to find Christ; I want to 
escape eternal judgment. -What am I to do? I must 
pray.” 

Yes, poor sinner, poor lost one, you may pray; but. 
yours at present is a very different prayer. It is this: 
“God be merciful to me a sinner”; ‘Lord, save me; I ~ 
perish”; “Have mercy on me, thou Son of David.” 
These are the prayers for you, sinner. If you cry to 
God, ‘He will hear.”” He hath promised, and “faithful 
is He that hath promised.” He will bend a willing ear 
to the voice of your supplication, He will save you; and 
then, washed in the blood of the Lamb, made clean 
and holy through His merits, clothed in the white robe 
of His righteousness, then you can pray along with the 
rest of God’s family, “Our Father which art in 
heaven.” Yes, in heaven, and when we arrive there, 
we shall be in the presence of our Father. 


STEPHEN’S GAZE INTO HEAVEN. 


But, still further, read with me the account of 
Stephen in Acts 7:55, 56: “But he, being full of the 
Holy Ghost (his eyes were opened), looked up stead- 
fastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and 
Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, 
Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man 
standing on the right hand of God.” He looked up 
—heaven is up—and looking up he saw what? he saw 
the heavens opened, and he saw the glory of God. His 
eyes were opened to behold celestial scenes. Heaven is 
- not so far off after all! Just up there—it only needs 
the opening of our blind eyes to see it! It may be, 
yea, it is, very near to us all. And God is there, and | 
God is here! 


- 


tag tt Ee ead 
4 


HEAVEN AND HOW TO GET THERE. 99 


Stephen’s eyes being opened, he saw the glory of 
God. And moré—he saw even more with his enlight- 
ened eyes. Would that our eyes were thus opened 
to see the glories of the invisible world! What more 
did he see? He saw 


JESUS STANDING ON THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD. 


Think of that! He was so filled with joy at the sight 
he forgot all about his cruel persecutors, and he cried 
out, and told the Jews what he beheld there: “I see 
Jesus.” They were not thankful, nor filled with joy. 
No, no; they ran upon him with one accord, the devil 
making them stop their ears and shout with a loud 
voice, that they might not give heed to the glad news. 

But to us who believe, who love Him, who look for 
His appearing, oh, what glorious tidings! Jesus is 
there, at the right hand of God. Ah, it is not so much 

_ the jasper walls; it is not the pearly gates, or the 
streets of pure gold, the sea of glass, the river of crys- 
tal, the seraphim and cherubim, but above all, and 
before all, it is the Lamb that is the light thereof! It is 
that which makes heaven our home. Christ is there. 
Jesus our elder Brother has gone before us, and is 
there now, preparing mansions for us, looking for us, 
expecting us. He is waiting to. welcome home His 
own people. 

Oh, it is sweet in any earthly place to have some 
one looking out for you, expecting you, longing for 
you! And that is what makes heaven so sweet, so 
dear to us. He is there who hath bought us, who hath 
redeemed us with His own precious blood, who hath 
given Himself a ransom for us. 

Once I heard of a little sick child, whose mother 
was seriously ill; and so, in order that she might have 
quiet, and that the sick child might be no trouble to 
her, the little one was taken away to a friend’s house, 
and placed in charge of a kind lady for a time. The 
mother grew worse, and at length died. The father 


said, 


100 ; THE WAY HOME, 


“We'll not trouble the child about it; she is too young 
to remember her mother. Just let her remain where 
she is until the funeral is over.” 

This was done, and in a few days the little girl was 
brought back to the house. No mention was made of 
her mother, or of what had occurred; but no sooner 
was she taken to the house, than she ran first into one 
room, then into another, into the parlor, the dining- 
room, and all over the house, and then away into a 
little room where her mother used to go to pray alone. 

“Where is mother?” she cried; “I want mother!” 

And when they were compelled to tell her what had 
happened, she cried out, 

“Take me away, take me away! I don’t want to be 
here without mother.” P 

It was the mother made it home to her. And so 
it is in heaven. It is not so much the white robes, the 
golden crowns, or the harps of gold, but it is the society 
we shall meet there. 

Who then are there? What company shall we have 
when we get there? 

The Father is there, Jesus is there, the Holy Spirit 
is there—our Father, our elder Brother, our Comforter. 

Who else is there? ~ 

The angels are there. 

Dear departed friends are there. 

And the little ones. Ah, they are there! I cannot 
speak of heaven without calling to mind the children. 
Turn to this passage: ‘“Take heed that ye despise not 
one of these little ones; for I say unto you, that in 
heaven their angels do always behold the face of My 
Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 18:10.) “Their 
angels!’? What does that mean? Have we each of us 
an angel especially appointed to watch over us wher- 
ever we go, an angel who makes it his business to 
attend each of us, and to take charge of us? 

These, then, are all in heaven, and we expect to 
see them there—the Trinity, blessed for ever, God the 


Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, The 


HEAVEN AND HOW TO GET THERE. Io! 


holy angels are there. The grand Old Testament saints 
are there. We shall meet them all—Abraham, Isaac, 
and Jacob, Job, David, and all the rest of God’s saints 
of former ages. All the New Testament saints, the 
twelve apostles, all the disciples and followers of the 
Lord, all the ancient martyrs, all who have loved the 
Lord from the foundation of the world. 

See them all summed up in Hebrews 12: 22-24: 

“But ye are come unto mount Zion, and unto the 
city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and 
to an innumerable company of angels, to the general 
assembly and church of the first-born, which are writ- 
ten in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the 
spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the 
mediator of the new covenant.” 


THE SONG OF THE REDEEMED. 


Again, in Revelation 5:9, 10, listen to the song they 
are singing—it will tell us who they are: 

“Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the 
seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed 
us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and > 
tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto 
our God kings and priests; and we shall reign on the 
earth.” 

Who are these? ‘These are they who on earth 
trusted Jesus, gave themselves to Him, and were will- 
ing to die for Him. They are all there, having been 
redeemed, and bought with a price, even the precious 
blood of the Lamb, and they shall reign with Him. 

Can we, in the words of Colossians 2:20 and Ro- 
mans 6:8, say that we are “dead with Christ”? If 
we can, we can also say, ‘““We believe we shall also live 
with Him.” Can you speak thus of Him: “Christ my 
Redeemer; Christ my Brother’? He offers to be to 
you a dearer, nearer friend than any you have on 
this earth—even a friend that sticketh closer than a 
brother, 


102 THE WAY HOME. 


“Tf any man serve Me,” we read in John 12: 26, “let 
him follow Me; and where I am, there shall also my 
servant be: if any man serve Me, him will my Father 
honor.” ‘That is the way to get near, yea, to get into, 
the kingdom of heaven. Serve Christ. He has prom- 
ised, if you do, that you shall be with Him—“where 
I am”; that is, in the kingdom of heaven, is it not? 
Where is He? He is at the right hand of God. Then 
we shall be there. “Where I am, there shall also My 
servant be.” If we are willing to be His servants on 
earth, we shall reign with Him in heaven. — 

Who, then, are to be our companions in that beauti- 
ful land on high? We have already enumerated them. 
The glorious Old Testament saints and heroes, all the 
redeemed ones that have gone before us, all who have 
died believing in the Saviour, ever since the world 
began; all Christ’s true followers, of whatever country 
or tongue, rich or poor. The color of their skin in 
this world does not matter a bit; all who have washed 
their robes, and made them white in the blood of the 
Lamb. They are all there, before the face of our 
Father in heaven. 

Does not this stir us up to desire to be there? Our 
Lord spoke of it as a deeply-important fact. Read 
Luke 10: 20: “Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that 
the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, be- 
cause your names are written in heaven.” ‘The seventy 
disciples had been sent out on evangelistic work, two 
and two. They had been over the length and breadth of 
the land on this mission of love and mercy, preaching 
Christ’s kingdom, and a great and mighty revival had 
taken place. They came back with great joy, and has- 
tened to Him, exclaiming, 

“Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through 
thy name.” 

But Christ replied, “That is good, and you do well 
to rejoice; but I can tell you something of far greater 
importance to rejoice over. It is this: rather rejoice 
that vour names are written in heaven,” 


HEAVEN AND HOW TO GET THERE. 103 


This is subject-matter for our rejoicing. Our 
names are written there, if we are His. We dare not 
rest content to find it out only when we die. If we 
don’t find it out when we are on earth, we have not 
much chance of finding our names in the book of life 
ig we die. The question, then, for every one is 
BLISS 

IS MY NAME WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF LIFE? 


But perhaps some one may say that it is downright 
presumption to talk of knowing that. ‘How can any 
one know whether their name is written in the book 
or not?” 

Nevertheless, we are bound to know it; we are neg- 
lecting our duty if we do not seek to know it. Listen 
to the words of our dear Saviour, Jesus Christ, who 
says, in I John 5:12, “He that hath the Son hath life” 
—hath eternal life; and who could have such a thing, 
and not know it? Observe the words; it is “hath,” 
not “is going to have,’ or “will have,’ but “hath” it, 
even now. Is it possible you could have this wonder- 
ful gift of God, and yet not know it? 

Surely such a wonderful gift will show itself in our 
life and conversation and daily walk, “that all men 
may take knowledge of us, that we have been with 


Jesus.” For a season, indeed, it is possible, yea, it 


often is the case, that we are in darkness, and know 
not this precious gift of God. But assuredly, if we 
but seek Him, He will show us His face; and in the 
clear light of His countenance we will be enabled to 
“read our title clear to mansions in the skies,” to see 
our names written in the book of life. 

Oh, what a comforting thought to the weak and 
weary Christian—‘‘hath life!’ Scripture says so, God 
says so, Christ says so. In John 5:24 we read: “He 
that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that 
sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into 
condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” 
We have already passed from death to life—life eternal, 
eae life evermore! It has begun already on 
earth, 


104 THE WAY HOME. 


Is it too strange and wondrous a truth to believe, 
too remote, too distant, to fill you with any great joy, 
the thought that your names are already written in 
the glorious roll of heaven’s inhabitants? Well, you | 
may feel so; but you ought all of you to know it, if © 
you are living near Christ, and walking closely with 
Him. 

Possibly some may say that this is all pure specula- 
tion; that we cannot know that our names are written 
in heaven; that we cannot be certain that there is any 
such book as the book of life. Well, if the Bible is 
to decide the question, just read Revelation 21:27; 
“And there shall in nowise enter into it anything that 
defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or 
maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s 
book of life.’ See also Rev. 3:5; Daniel 12:1; and 
Exodus 32:32, where the same book of life is spoken 
of. And again, in Philippians 4:3: “And I entreat 
thee also, true yoke-fellow, help those women which 
labored with me in the Gospel, with Clement also, and — 
with other my fellow-laborers, whose names are in the 
book of life.” 

In this passage Paul speaks of it as a matter of 
course that there is a book of life, and also that they 
knew that their names were in that precious book. 

How could Christ tell His disciples to rejoice that 
“their names were written” unless they could know it 
—to rejoice over a thing which they could not be 
aware of? We can and do know it, if we choose to 
give diligence to make our calling and election sure. 

Is your name gone up before ‘you to be enrolled in 
that volume? If not, you won’t obtain admission to 
heaven. You may go to its gates, and seek admission ; 
but it will be of no use, if your name is not in the book. 
None can enter but those “whose names are written 
in heaven.” 

THE MANSION MADE READY. 


Once when I was travelling to a city, there was a 


HEAVEN AND HOW TO GET THERE. 105 


lady in the car with me. After I had reached the 
hotel where I was to stay, and had got comfortable 
quarters, she came and said, 

“Oh, sir, I cannot get a room in this hotel; they are 
quite full! How ever did you manage to get a room?” 

“Easily enough,” I replied; “I just telegraphed on 
before that I was coming—to have a room ready for 
me.’ 

And it is somewhat similar in regard to gaining 
admission to heaven—your names must be sent on be- 
forehand, and entered in its book, else you won't get 
in. But get your names inscribed on its pages, and 
then you won't be disappointed. God’ will have a 
mansion ready for you when you ascend to your 
heavenly home; and when you come to its gates, the 
guardian angels will refer to the book of life to see if 
your name is there. If so, pass in; but if not, admit- 
tance will be certainly refused ! 

The great question then, for one and all, is this: 
Is my name written in the Lamb’s book of life? Do 
not rest content until you know that it is so. Do you 
ask how you are to know it? Go to Jesus. He says: 
“He that believeth in me hath everlasting life.” ‘“‘Be- 
lieveth in Me!” ‘Trust Christ, and you are sure of 
it; sure of salvation, sure of eternal life, sure of your 
name being written in the book of life. 


HE DYING MOTHER’S CHARGE. 


A few years ago a young mother lay dying of con- 
sumption. She was drawing very near her end. Just 
a few days before she died she bade her father bring 
in the children one by one, that she might see them all 
once more before she died, and bless them, and bid 
them farewell. The eldest boy was brought in; she 
laid her weak hand on his head and prayed for him, 
and blessed him. Next came a little girl; she prayed 
for her, and blessed her. And so with the whole family 
—six of them being brought in one by one. -At last 


106 THE WAY HOME. 


it came to the little baby. Oh, how she loved it! but bit 


she must part from it too. It was put into her weak 


arms; she gave it a last embrace, a loving kiss, and it — 
too was taken away from her. Then she turned to ai 


father, and said, 


cd charge you that you bring all these children Sadat | 


home to heaven.” 


She wanted to have them round her in the bright 


land above. Now how could he promise this unless he 
had the means of knowing when they were safe in the 


arms of Jesus, that Good Shepherd who alone could 


lead them all safely home? If it is impossible for us 
to be certain of our salvation, of our names being in 
the book of life, then it is impossible for that parent, 
or for any other father or mother, to fulfil such a 
charge. But, thank God, it is not impossible, as we 
have already seen, for us to know, even on earth, 


whether our own names, or our children’s names, are 


written in the Lamb’s book of life. Oh, lead them to 
Jesus, and be ever in prayer for and with them, and let 
them see you walking with God, and they will follow! 


THE PRAYERLESS FATHER AND THE LOST SON. 


I never speak of parents without recalling the cases 
of two fathers whom I have known. 

The one dwelt on the banks of the Mississippi river. 
He was what the world calls rich and wealthy—trich, 
that is, in this world’s goods. Ah, how little the world 
knows what true riches are! 

His son, a bright little boy, was out playing one day, 
when a passing car knocked him down and ran over 
him. He was brought home dying. 

The father was sent for. He came home, and found 
the mother in a desperate state. When he went into the 
room the boy was lying unconscious. There he lay, 
white, pale, and motionless. 

“Oh!” cried the father, “can nothing be done to save 
him ?” 


wed - 


HEAVEN AND HOW TO GET THERE. 107 


“No,” said the physician; “he is past help, he is 
dying.” : 

“Well, can nothing be done to bring him to con- 
sciousness? He does not know he is dying.” 

He knew he had never trained the boy to be ready 
for death. 

“We'll try,” said the doctor. 

In a little while the boy opened his eyes and looked 
about him. The father bent over him, and said, 

“My boy, do you know you are dying ?” 

“Am I dying?” said the boy; “father, will you pray 
for me? You have never prayed for me. Am I lost? 
Oh, father, do pray for me!” 

But the father could not pray; the mother could not 
pray ; the physicians could not pray: and before a serv- 
ant of Christ could be fetched, the boy was dead! 
Dead, without a word of loving prayer being breathed 
for him to Almighty God! I leave you to imagine the 
feelings of that father. His child gone, and never a 
word of prayer ascended to the Throne on his behalf! 
See that none of you are ever like him. 


A PRAYING FATHER. 


I knew another case, which was a direct contrast to 
the one I have just mentioned. It -was that of another 
father, who was a merchant in business in New York. 
His son was laid on a bed of sickness. One day when 


he came home from business, he found his wife in 


tears. 

“What’s the matter?” he asked. 

“Our boy has been taken much worse siuce you 
left this morning. The doctors say he is dying, and he 
does not know it,” replied the mother. 

The father went into the sick-room quietly, and ap- 
proached the bed where the little sufferer lay. Bending 
over him gentiy, he said, 

“My boy, do you know you are dying, very likely to- 
day?” . ) 


108 . HE WAY HOME. 


The boy looked up in his father’s loving face: “Dy- | 


ing am I? Is this dying? Shall I die to-night?” 


He was weeping for his son, the great tears rolling — 


down his cheeks. 

“Oh, father, don’t weep for me; don’t ery, father! 
When I die I am going to heaven, and when I get there 
I will go right up to Jesus, and tell Him that it was 
through you I came there.” 

Ah, my friends, I’d rather have my son bear a testi- 
mony like that to the throne of God than have all the 
riches, all the wealth, all the gold, all the jewels this 
world ever saw—yes, ten thousand times rather! I'd 
rather have my son an heir of the kingdom of heaven, 
and joint-heir with Christ, than have him heir of the 
grandest and proudest monarch the world ever knew. 
“Heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.” Ah, that’s 
an inheritance worth having, and it’s what God offers 
to us! 

We have seen (1) Where heaven is—It Is ABOVE. 
We have also seen (2) Who are there—God the 
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, the 
blessed angels, and Christ’s redeemed ones. We have 
also spoken about the book Christ keeps of His own 
people. Now 


(3) OUR INHERITANCE IN HEAVEN. 


What treasures and glory! Turn to Matthew 19:20, 
21. A young man came to Jesus, saying, “I have kept 
the law, I have done all these things, | want to get to 
heaven; what lack I yet?” Jesus looked at him, He 
was sorry for him. His eyes saw what was amiss in 


the man—the love of riches was his besetting sin. 


Therefore Christ said, “If thou wilt be perfect, go and 
sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou 
shalt have treasure in heaven.” Ah, the man went 
away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Jesus 
was grieved for him, He was very near the kingdom 


\ 


HEAVEN AND HOW TO GET THERE. — 109g 


of heaven, but he missed it. And why? Because his 
treasure wasn’t there, it was here on the earth. 
Read Matthew 6:19-21: “Lay not up for yourselves 


treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth cor- 


rupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but 
lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither 
moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not 


‘break through nor steal; for where your treasure is, 


there will your heart be also.” 


OUR TREASURE IS IN HEAVEN, 


or, if it is not, it ought to be, if we ever mean to get 
there ourselves. Lay not up treasures on earth. And 
why not? Because if you have much treasure on earth, 
you're very apt to have precious little in heaven. The 
more you have in this world, the less you care about 
laying up treasure in heaven. Why so? Just because 
your heart will be here. If a man has saved twenty 
thousand dollars, his heart will be set upon it: how to 
keep it, how to spend it, how to divide it out. I need 
not take much trouble to convince you of this; you 
know it well enough yourselves. Where your treasure 
is, your heart is certain to be also. It is quite natural, 
quite common; you see it every day around you. If 
a man has invested in a company a large sum of money, 
his heart is in it, you may be sure. How is the com- 
pany going to succeed? Shall I gain much? or shall I 
lose it all? The first thing he does when he gets his 
newspaper in the morning is to look down the page till 
he gets to the list of stocks and shares, to see what 
price the company’s shares are quoted at. Ah, his 
heart is there, sure enough! 

The result in many cases is that the man has no 
time to heed Christ’s instruction, to listen to His warn- 
ing voice. He is too busy laying up for himself treas- 
ures on earth. But, remember, if you set your heart 
upon the treasures of this world, you will be sure to 


IIo THE WAY HOME. 


meet with disappointment. Perhaps you fix some limit, | 


and say, 


i ‘When I have got so many thousand dollars I will : 


stop.” 


But when you do succeed in acquiring the wished 
for amount, it does not seem so much as you thought. © 


You then resolve to try for a little more before you 
stop; and so you go on, and will never feel satisfied 


with these treasures. And even then sorrow may come: — 


your riches may take themselves wings, and fly away. 

Men are always looking forward in this world for 
something that is to yield them happiness; but when 
they get it, they are disappointed. They exclaim, a 
this all? If I had thought it was like this, 1 wouldn’t 
have worked so hard for it.” How few of us can fol- 


low Christ’s command—for it is a command—‘“Lay not — 
up for yourselves treasures upon earth.” What does it — 
profit us to set our hearts on this world? Nothing; — 


“it is worse than vanity. Yet men go on living for this 
world and setting their affections upon it, and when 
they come to be old and feeble, what good does it do 


them? ‘They expected happiness; the have none. 


Their hopes are frustrated, and they go reas to the 
grave mourning. 


COD’S FOOL. 


When you come to die, what benefit will your riches 
be to your soul? None whatever. You will possess 
nothing: what you had belonged to this earth, and you 
must leave it behind you. The great question is, 
What have you in heaven? Alas, if you have never 
laid anything up there! The world may indeed say, 
“Such a man has died worth so many thousands or 
millions’; but in reality he is worth nothing at all if 
he has not got anything laid up in heaven. The world 
may call him rich and wise, but God calls him a fool: 
“Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of 


thee: then whose shall those things be?” Not his own, 


anyway; very likely they shall be possessed by some 


ale d 


ares: 


HEAVEN AND HOW TO GET THERE. IIl 


spendthrift son, that has been brought up in great 
expectations, and he’ll soon make the money go. 

If I am a child of God, and yet make an idol of my 
money, of my gifts, of my time, or of anything in this 
world, then I'll be sure to lose it. God will take it away 
in love to me, although I won't think it love at the 
time; but if I work for God, if I spend money, gifts, 
time, everything I have for Him, then I lay it up in 


heaven, and that’s a very good bank. It won’t fail, and 


I'll have a whole eternity to enjoy it. I shall have it 
there when I go. This is arithmetic which anyone can 
understand. And then, your treasure being in heaven, 
your heart will be there also. ‘The heart is where the 
treasure is. 

You can soon tell where a man’s treasure is by his 
talk. If it is in heaven, he will not be long with you 
before he’s talking about heaven: his heart is there 
and so his speech isn’t long of running there too. If 
his heart is in money, he will soon have you deep in 
talk about mines, speculations, stocks, bank rate, and so 
on. If his heart is in lands, it won’t be long before he’s 
talking about estates, improvements, houses, and so on. 
Always the same, wherever a man’s heart is, there his 
tongue will be sure to go. 

ome one has said, if you see a man’s goods and 
furniture come down by the freight train, you’re pretty 
sure he'll be down by the next passenger train; he 
won't be long after. He'll follow his goods; don’t be 
afraid of that. And so it is with heaven; if your treas- 
ure is on before you, you'll be wanting to follow it too, 
you'll be glad to be on the road there as soon as pos- 
sible. 


TREASURES OF EARTH AND HEAVEN CONTRASTED. 


When I first went to San Francisco I went into a 
Sabbath school. It was a terrible night of rain, cold, 
and wet. Very few of the teachers or scholars had 
come. The superintendent said to me he thought he 
would dismiss the school, 


I1I2 THE WAY HOME. 


“Will you let me talk to them a bit ?” 

“Oh, certainly !” 

“Have you a black-board?” I said. 

ees? , 

Well, I stood up and began talking about heaven. 
I said, 

“Would one of you teachers that’s good at writing 
on the board come forward? I ain’t very good at that 
sort of thing.” 

One young man came and took the chalk. 

“Now,” I said, “will you write there what I tell you. 
I want to speak to the children about the treasures of 
earth and the treasures of heaven; let us see which will 
be most. Tell me some of the treasures of earth.” 

One exclaimed, “Money.” 

“Write that down,” I said. 

Another said, ships; another, lands; another, 
friends ; another, love. 

Well, we’ve got written down the treasures of 
earth. Now what are the treasures of heaven?’ 

“Jesus,” one exclaimed. 

“Write it down by the side of the other column,” I 
said. 
Salvation, joy, pardon, eternal life, peace, crowns, 
robes, mansions, the river of life, were mentioned by 
others. Ina very short time this column was five times 

as long as the other. 

“Now, which is best?” I said. “Some people think 
that the treasures of earth are the reality, and the treas- 
ures of heaven visionary things, remote and far distant. _ 
But I tell you it is the very opposite; the treasures of 
this earth, such as they are, are fleeting and short-lived, 
not for a moment to be compared with the eternal joys 
of the land above. Treasure above is the reality ; treas- 
ure here below is but a phantom.” 

When I ended, the children seemed much impressed, 
and the young teacher who wrote for me, told me after- 
wards that it was the means of his salvation. It looked 


HEAVEN AND HOW TO GET THERE. 113 


so strange on the board, he had never imagined heaven 
was so real. He went home, but could not get it out 
of his head; he pondered over it, and never rested until 
he found Christ. He was the first-fruits of my work 
on the Pacific coast. 

I think if any man here would just take his pencil 


-from his pocket, and write on a piece of paper the treas- 


ures of earth and the treasures of heaven, it would not 
be long before he would be seeking to lay up treasures 
for himself on high. 
, A friend of mine was once taken by an old man to 
see his riches. He took him to a splendid mansion, 
and said, “This is all mine.” He pointed him to a little 
town—“That is mine; it is called by my name.” He 
pointed him to a rolling prairie—‘‘That is all.mine; the 
sun never shone on a finer prairie than that, so fruitful 
and rich, and it’s all mine.” In another direction he 
showed him fertile farms extending for thirty miles— 
“These are all mine.” He took him into his grand 
house, showed him his beautiful pictures, his costly 
gold plate, his jewels, and still he said, “These are all 
mine. This grand hall I have built; it is called by my 
name, there is my insignia on it; and yet I was once a 
poor boy. I have made it all myself.” 

My friend looked at him. “Well, you’ve all this on 
earth; but what have you got up there in heaven?” 

“Up where?” said the old man. 

“Up in heaven.” 

“Well, I’m afraid I haven’t got much up there.” 

“Ah,” said my friend, “but you’ve got to die, to leave 
this world; what will you take with you of all these 
things? You will die a beggar; for all these riches 
count as nothing in the kingdom of heaven. You will 
be a pauper; ae you have no inheritance with the 
saints above.”  semretace 
+ The poor old man (he was poor enough in reality, 
though rich in all the world’s goods), burst into tears. 
He had no hope for the future. In four months’ time 


114 THE WAY HOMI, 


pth a rue 
he was dead: and where is he now? He lived and. 
died without God, and without hope in this world o 
the next. 

Lay not up treasure down here. God commands you 
not to do it, and you must obey. Lay it not up on 
earth, but lay it up in heaven. God does not forbid 
that: store up as much as you like there. Gather your — 
treasure there. It will lead you upward. 


THE WATER-LOGGED SHIP. 


When I was crossing me Atlantic I saw a vessel 
floating, and yet not moving; she was lying likea dead 
log. I could not Gaderctant it. I made inquiry, and 
found she was what they called water-logged. She 
had sprung a leak and filled with water, but her cargo 
being wood she could not sink; but still she could 
not sail, and had just to be abandoned, and her cargo ~ 
lost. Now, that’s just what’s the matter with many of — 
us. How many are like water-logged vessels! Youlie 
useless; you cannot sail for heaven, because you are 
so laden with this world’s treasures and goods that you 
cannot move a bit. You cannot even begin the journey; 
your time is so much taken up with this world’s affairs, a 
that you have no leisure to think about heaven. Rosh! 

I don’t wonder at it, for the reason is that you have , 
no treasure in heaven, nothing to attract you there. ~ 
Your heart is here in this world; and when you leave _ 
it you will leave behind you all you care for—your all. 
What we want, my friends, is treasure in heaven to _ 
attract our hearts up there. Then the world will have y 
very little influence over us. Our hopes will be all 
fixed on things above. 

It’s just like men going up in a balloon; when they 
have ascended a little height, things down here begin 
to look very small indeed. What had seemed very _ 
grand and imposing, now seem as mere nothings. 
And the higher they rise, the smaller everything on 
earth appears— it gets fainter and fainter as they rise, 


% Tee 
an + 
; 


MNEAVEN AND HOW TO GET THERE. 115 


till the railway train, dashing along at express speed, 
seems just like a thread and scarcely appears to be 
moving at all, and the grand piles of buildings seem 
now like mere dots. So it is when we get near heaven; 
earth’s treasures, earth’s cares look very small and 
trifling. 

And again, when men go up in a balloon, they carry 
with them what they call ballast, that is, small bags 
of sand, and when they want to rise higher they just 
throw out some of the sand. . So must we if we want 
to rise nearer heaven, just throw out some of the sand 
and cast aside every weight. We won't rise higher till 
we do so. 

But you say, “I can’t throw my money into the 
street ; | have made it and saved it, and I am not going 
to waste it.’ 

Oh no, you'll soon find a good use for it if you want 
to, and thus you may get rid of some of the ballast that 


-is holding you on the way to heaven. When you are 


enabled thus to lend to the Lord, to put your money 
in His bank, the world will soon lose its power ‘vith 
you. 


STRANGERS AND PILGRIMS. 


When Abraham once caught sight of the holy city 
with the eyes of his understanding, which were opened 
to see its glories, then it was that he “confessed that 
he was a stranger and a pilgrim on the earth, and that 
he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose 
builder and maker is God.” He had no desire to stay 
here—heaven was his home—so much brighter, so 
much better than anything he could find here below. 
We must all feel we are but pilgrims and sojourners 
here, our home is above. Our feet are often weary, 
and our hearts heavy; but never mind that. Let us 
look forward to that “city which hath foundations.” 
Weary we may be, and often are, but, blessed be God, 


there is a place of rest! There is rest for the weary 


there. A great many look upon the Christian church 


116 _ ‘THE WAY HOME. 


on earth as a place of rest. Never was a greater mis- 
take. The church is no place of rest; it is a place of 
work. ‘There remaineth therefore a rest to the people 
of God.” (Hebrews 4:9.) 

“If Joshua had given them rest, then would he not 
afterwards have spoken of another day.” Do you look 
for that rest here? There is none. If you are resting 
you are neglecting your duty, you are shirking your 
work, and will never enjoy heaven thoroughly. It’s 
the weary only who know what true rest is. “Work 
while it is called to-day.” Be up and doing. ‘That 
which your hand findeth to do in vour Master’s vine- 
yard, do it with all your might. “Be not weary in well- 
doing: for in due time ye shall reap, if ye faint not.” 
Blessed be God, ‘“‘there remaineth a rest”! No rest here 
below; nothing but toil and labor. And you will enjoy 
your rest all thé more when you come to the beautiful 


land above. You must work for Him while you are ’ 


here. If the church is looking for her rest here, then 
she cannot make a greater blunder; she will never get 
rest in this world. There are always trials, and tribu- 
lations, and labors here. ‘The rest is up yonder where 
Christ is. Don’t be weary with your work; don’t be 
thinking that everything is against you, that you seem 
to be doing little good. Work on, hope on, pray on! 


TAUGHT BY A DREAM. 


I once heard of a good Christian man who began and 
for a time worked well for the Lord. But he grew 
weary; his heart failed him; he saw no fruits, and he 
longed to be at rest. In this state of mind he lay down 
in his bed one night, and had a dream. He was up in 
heaven, walking its golden streets with two friends of 
his, who had died some time before. He thought he 
saw a chariot of gold coming towards them as they 
talked. It stopped when it came up to where they were, 
and, lo, Jesus Himself was in it! He took his two 
friends, and lifted them into the chariot. Then the Son 


HEAVEN AND HOW TO GET THERE. 117 


of God took him away to the battlements of heaven, 
and said, 

“Look over these; what do you see?” 

“T see nothing but a great dark pit,” said the man. 

“Look again,” said Christ. 

He looked, and behold, he saw men groping about in 
the darkness, and many of them stumbling over the 
edge of that horrible abyss, having no one to warn 
them of danger, and guide ‘them to light and corre 
and the beauties above them in heaven. 

“Now,” said the Son of God, “will you remain hese 
and enjoy the beauties of heaven, or will you go for 
a time and speak to these poor benighted men, and try 
to lead them out of darkness into light?” 

The man awoke, and it was but a dream; yet the 
effect it had upon him was such that he devoted the rest 
of his life to the work of the Lord. 


OUR REWARD FUTURE. 


Some Christians make a mistake in looking for their 
reward here below on earth, and they are disappointed 
because they do not obtain it. This is a great blunder; 
for the apostle tells us in 2 Tim. 4:8: “Henceforth there 
is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the 
Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day.” 
Not in this life, but in the life to come; at that great 
day we shall receive a crown. See again Matthew 
5:12: “Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is 
your reward in heaven.” You needn't be looking for it 
on earth; it is “in heaven.” The world won’t reward 
you. No; it will hate you, and curse you, and slay you, 
if it can; for “so persecuted they the prophets which 
were before you.” Ah, if you are expecting a reward 
down here, you're sure to be disappointed; your hope 
will be frustrated! 

Sometimes a man relaxes in his work for the Lord, 
and seems to lose his strength, and fails to speak for 
Christ as he used to do. And why? Just because he 


118 THE WAY HOME. 


has been looking for a reward in this world. And what 
has he received? Nothing but laughter and mockery. — 
What does the world care for him? ‘Thus he falls back, 
and becomes discouraged; he begins to faint by the 
way. Such failure comes from looking for a reward 
in this world. ; 

When a man is thought much of in this world, it 
is quite likely Christ won’t have much to say for him 
in the next world. Christ’s loved ones are despised 
and-hated: “Of whom the world was not worthy: they 


wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens 


and caves of the earth.” They have to put up with all 
kinds of contempt and contumely; that’s what Christ’s 
people have to endure here. Ah, and we'll have to 
bless God for it all! It keeps us from linking ourselves 
with this world, from setting all our hopes and desires 
upon it. 

NOT OF THE WORLD. 


If we are to serve Christ and to reach heaven, we 
must sail right against the world and its ways. It’s 
an old saying that a dead fish always swims with the 
current; and we can always tell the living fish when 
we see it swimming against the current. And in like 
manner, if you are dead, you will very likely be sailing 
smoothly enough with this world, and very well satis- 
fied with yourself; but if you are alive in Christ Jesus, 
you will be struggling with might and main against 
the world, its sins and temptations, and you will be 
seeking to win souls for Christ, regardless of the 


world’s scoffs, and sneers, and frowns. But be not dis- — 


couraged, although the way be rough and weary. Look 
up beyond, there is reserved for you a “great reward in 
heaven’’—up in heaven, beyond the clouds, the sorrows, 
and the tears. Oh, my friends, if God calls that reward 
“GREAT,” how great must it be! We perhaps would 


call it great, even if it had not been very much, for we - : 


are accustomed to little things; but when God calls it 
_ “GREAT,” we may be sure it is something to look for- 


HEAVEN AND HOW TO GET THERE. 119 


ward to. See, then, that you are looking to heaven for 


~ your reward. 


Paul and Silas didn’t get much reward on this earth. 
The world held them in very little esteem. It impris- 
oned, and stoned, and at last killed them. But what a 
reward they've got now up there, where Christ stands 
at the right hand of God! “In weariness, in hunger 
and thirst often, in cold and nakedness’’: that’s what 
Paul got; that was his reward. But did he grow dis- 
couraged? I reckon not; he would not have been the 
successful apostle he was if he had grown weary. 
Stripes often, stoned, cold, perils of sea, perils by land! 

“Ain’t you wearied yet, Paul? I expect you'll be 
giving up this preaching soon.” 

“Giving up? giving up? no, never! ‘I press toward 
the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in 
Christ Jesus.’ ” 

Ah, that’s how they repaid Paul down here! They 
paid with stripes: “Five times have I received forty 
stripes save one.” I fancy some fellow saying again 
to him, 

“Well, Paul, ain’t you going to stop this talking and 

praying now’? You'd better be going home to your 
folks to rest in peace.” 
“Stop this preaching? No, ‘I press toward the 
mark.” “I press.” He was not looking for pay or 
reward on earth. No, it was up yonder, where Christ 
dwells; it was there he was looking for his reward for 
evermore. 

The world served the Son of God in the same way. 
He came to bless, and not to curse. For three years 
He went about doing all the good He could find to do: 
healing the sick, casting out devils, opening the eyes 
of the blind, making the lame to leap like a hart, rais- 
ing the very dead out of their graves. Never a poor 
sick one came to Him but he was healed. Christ 
couldn’t pass a poor beggar but his heart yearned for 
him. And yet, how did the world repay Him? Did 
it worship Him? build a fine house for Him? put up 


120 ' THE WAY HOME. 


a statue in His honor? No, not a bit. It hung Him to — 
a tree; it shouted, “Crucify Him! crucify Him!” It 
preferred the thief and murderer to Him, the holy One. 
It yelled out, “His blood be on our heads!” And his 
blood is on the world’s head to this day. “He came 
unto His own, and His own received Him not.” 


SAVED, YET SO AS BY FIRE. 


But now He is waiting above to reward those who 
serve Him, who will work for Him. I have an idea .- 
that there are thousands of crownless saints in heaven. 
They just barely get in at the doors. They have indeed 
been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb; but there is 
no reward for them. They have sought their own ease 
in this world; they have not sought to work for Christ 
here below; therefore, though admitted to heaven, they 
enjoy no distinguished reward. “They that be wise 
shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they 
that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever 
and ever.” None of those that have lost heart, and 
have given up working for the Master here, will shine 
as the stars, or receive the great reward hereafter. 
For those careless ones there is no bright glory, no 
place near the throne; they have just got in at the © 
gates, that’s all.” 

When I read the life of some of the brave old Chris- 
tians, godly men, striving for their Lord, it makes me 
feel quite ashamed of my own Christianity. Talk 
about Christianity nowadays, just look at the life, look 
at the struggles, look at the burning anxiety for souls, 
of those men of old! They lived for Christ and His 
cause. Their motto, “None but Christ; none but 
Christ.” Work, suffering, pain, trials, death itself, 
nothing came amiss that was sent by the Master! You 

“must do something for Christ if you would win the re- 
ward of diligent labor in His service. 

Young man, what are you going to do for Christ? ib 


bide ee 
ze 5 
4 


HEAVEN AND HOW TO GET THERE. I2! 


Be up and doing; look up and see the great and blessed 
reward awaiting you. You will enjoy heaven, if you 
serve Christ on earth. Think not of any reward here; 
again I say, look up, look beyond! and there you will 
find “an exceeding great reward.” Then He will say, 
“Well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou into 
the joy of thy Lord.” And when we are called by Him 
to arise and come home, it will be with joy. 


OH, WHAT A HOME-COMING 


that will be! It is for you, my dear friends, who have 
been serving him here below. He calls you; the Master 
calls you. Would you wish to stay? No. When He 
calls, you will arise and meet Him with joy. You will 
rejoice to follow Him. Follow Him on the earth, and 
you will follow Him from the earth to heaven. Re- 
joice, then, rejoice; for “great is your reward in 
heaven.” Praise God for this look-out He has given 
us into the future, in order to strengthen our hearts for 
the trials of this life. 

We have grown so cold nowadays, we have very 
little praise ; but when good king Jehoshaphat marched 
to battle, it was with songs of praise triumphing ever 
beforehand ; for his faith was strong. And the Lord 
gave him victory. When Paul and Silas were shut up 
they praised God, even there in the prison, with their 
feet fast in the stocks. They sang; and when the 
jailer told them to hold their tongues, they just sang 
so much the more, that the very foundations of the 
prison were shaken. And God delivered them. They 
praised God for His goodness, and God said amen to 
it, and opened the doors for them. They would praise 
God still more afterward, when they saw that their 
faith had been the salvation of that jailer and his 
family. 

Again, look at “Paul the aged,” old and feeble as 
he was, led up the streets of Rome to his death. Rome 


122 _ THE WAY HOME. Ne 


never in all her days of triumphant warfare had known | 
such a conqueror as this man, who is going quietly to 
his death, faithful to God, even to death! uh, 
“Ah, Paul! don’t you tremble now ? See, what has 
all your preaching done for you? You're going to be 
put to death. Come, now, just give it up, and they'll 
let you off. Ain’t you afraid : leg ms 
“Afraid!” says Paul, “no, indeed! I’ve had stripes, 
prisons, beatings with rods, stoned, shipwrecked three ‘ 
times, perils of fire, perils of sword, but none of these 
things move me. This light affliction, which is but 
for a moment, worketh for me a far more exceeding — 
and eternal. weight of glory.” 
And what was the result? On the page of history — te 
’ his name is written as a good soldier of the Lord Jesus, 
who could endure hardness like a soldier should. AS 
one of God’s faithful ones, who feared not the faceof 
man, he could say, “I have fought a good fight, I have 
finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth 
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which 
the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that 
day: and not to me only, but unto all them that love 
His appearing.” Aye, he could say, “I have kept the 
faith!’ Blessed be God! Paul is not dead; he lives up — 
_there; and at the day of Christ’s appearing he shall 
receive an unfading crown of glory from his Saviour. 
Oh, may God give us all grace to work for Him 
while here, that all of us, men and women, may be — 
“about our Father’s business!” Work whileitiscalled 
to-day—work in faith, and look up. There—there is 5 
our rest, our reward, our home, our crown! We'll get 
it all by and by. Forget, then, selfish pleasures, and — 
work—work for Christ; and He'll make it all up to us 
in the world to come. 
Perhaps some of you say, “I’ve no treasure in heaven — 
yet, but I would like to have. I think it’s worth trying 
for ; but how am I to overcome the world, and the sin- 
ful propensities of this body of sin?” 


HEAVEN AND HOW TO GET THERE. 123 


The one only way is given in John 3:3: “Except a 
- man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 
Then you inquire, “How can I be born again?” 

The answer is found in Acts 16:31: “Believe on the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” 

“Oh,” but you reply, “I believed on Him long ago! 
I know that He is the Son of God; I know that He 
died on the cross for sin.” 

_ Ay, but the devils also believe and tremble. Do you 
believe that Christ died for you individually? that He 
has saved you? that He has redeemed you with His 
own precious blood? That’s what is wanted—a real 
personal faith in a personal Saviour. You do believe, 
you say; then I tell you on the authority of the Word 
of God, you ARE sAVED. “He that believeth, HATH 
eternal life.” Not “is to have it,” but already “has it” 
abiding in him. 


THE ANCHORED BOAT. 


I once heaid of two men in America who were under 
the influence of liquor. They came down at night to 
where their boat was tied. They wanted to return 
home, so they got in and began to row. They pulled 
away hard all night, wondering why they never got to 
the other side of the bay. When the grey dawn of 
morning broke, behold, they had never loosed the 
mooring line or raised the anchor! 

That’s just the way with many who are striving to 
enter the kingdom of heaven. They cannot believe, 
because they are tied to this world. Cut the cord! cut 
the cord! Set yourselves free from the clogging weight 
of earthly things, and you will soon rise heavenward. 


DEATH HAS LOST ITS STING, 


One day a man who was a consumptive came up to 
me and said, 
“T don’t see how I can be saved; how I can get con- 


124 THE WAY HOME. 


verted. I know Christ has died for me, and yet I don’t _ 
feel I’m saved.” ; aoe 

I tried te set before him the only true and living way, 
Curist Jesus. I tried to show him God’s way, not 
my own way; however, he went away still unhappy. 

Next day he came, and said, “Now I see it all— 
Christ has died for me; He has redeemed me with His- C 
own blood. I feel I have not long to live; but I am not 
sore afraid and terrified as I previously was. Death 
has lost its sting.” S 

He went away, and in a short time after [heardthat 
his fatal disease*had brought him to the grave; but he } 
was better far in the land above. by 

When I.was a young man, and I had not seen much 
of the world, I was talking one day about death, and 
said, * 

“The righteous have no fear in their death.” 

A man came forward, and said, “How can you talk 
in that way? I have seen a great many die, and I can | 
tell you there is no difference between the saint and 
the sinner; they all die alike.” oi; 

I wondered how that could be, but could not contra- 
dict him from experience, never having seen anyone 
die. But very soon after that the war of 1861 broke 
out. It pleased God to call me to work amongst the 
wounded and dying. Ah, then I saw plenty of death! 
And now I know there is a difference between the : 
latter end of the righteous and the sinner. [haveseen 
a man cursing and calling upon God to damn his soul, __ 
and I have seen him die with that oath on his lips— 
taken at his word. Others I have seen cold and sullen, 
not caring what became of their soul. Others in all the 
conscious agonies of a lost soul, that felt its days on 
earth were ended, and that it was not saved. Ihave 
heard the screams of despair from those who were 
without hope. And I have also witnessed scenes of 
calm, placid death, even of joyous triumphant depart- 
ure to be with Christ, on the part of those who had 
their feet on the Rock of Ages. And now I tell you 


\ HEAVEN AND HOW TO GET THERE. 125 


there is a difference, a great difference, as much differ- 
ence as between day and night, or as between light and 
darkness. 

Never shall I forget one day coming down the Ten- 
nessee river after the battle of Pittsburg Landing. The 
boat was laden with the wounded going to the hospital 
‘—many of them only to die. There were 450 men on 
board, every ope of them in agony. Think of that! I 
said to the doctor in charge, who was a godly man, 

“The great cry of these poor fellows is for water. 
Let us go and give them water; and as we pour into 
their parched lips earthly water, let us seek to speak to 
them of the Water of Life.” 

He said, “Very well.” 

I went off and commenced at once. As I passed 
along | came to one young man lying unconscious. I 
think he was the finest young man I have ever seen. 
The calm, noble look upon his face was so grand. | 
ran to the doctor. 

“Can nothing be done to arouse this young man? I 
want to know before he dies if he is safe in Christ.” 

“Well,” he said, “we have had to amputate one of ' 
his legs, and he has lost so much blood that he can’t 
live; but perhaps some stimulant may bring him to for 
a little.” 

I took a cup of it in my hand, and went to him, gave 
him two or three spoonfuls; but still no sign of life. 

I turned to the next bed, and said to the soldier who 
was lying watching me, 

“Do you know this young man?” 

“Know him! yes, I should think so. He’s my chum; 
we were born in the same village, we were brought up 
together, and we joined the army together.” 

“Has he any parents?” 

“His father died a long time since; his mother is 
still living; he’s her only son.” 

“Any sisters?” 

“He has one.” 

“Ts his mother a good woman?” 


tee OR 


126 THE WAY HOME. 


“Yes, she’s a real Christian, and so is his sister.” 

I paused; I trembled to ask the next question. I 
was so afraid he might be dying without hope, and his 
dear mother and sister been praying for him. At last 
I said, 

“Can you tell me if he’s a Christian?” 

“A Christian! why, bless you, sir, he was the best. 
man in the regiment. He was always praying; and he 
put us all to hoe he was so good.” 

Oh, how thankful I was to hear that! And I hoped — 
before he died he would recover consciousness suf- 
ficiently to send a message to his dear mother and 
sister. 

His comrade told me his name, and I put my noi va 
near his ear, and called out to him, t 

“Henry, do you know where you are?” " 

After a bit he opened his eyes, and looked about him, — 
and then said, os 

“Wes, I know now ; I am going home to my mother.” 

“Ah,” I said, “I am afraid you will never see her + 
in this world; ; you are dying !” 1 

He looked up in my face, and the recollection of the 3 
battle and of his wounds came back to him. Mie ‘@ 

“Have you no message I can send home to your 4 
mother?” I said. 

At the word home he looked up again, and ue 

“Tell my mother that I died Mesh 


TRUSTING IN THE LORD, 


that I am gone home.” 

He was then sinking fast, but repeated feebly, Tel 
my mother—tell my sister—I died—trusting—in the 7 
Lord; I am—going home. Tell them—to follow me,— i” 


to come—home.” : 
He lay back unconscious, and in four hours he was” " a 
at home in glory. 
Was not that a death worth dying—the death of the P, 
righteous? Baalam said long ages ago, “Let me die ou 


= i a | eS = 7 on — '*s 
SES ” oe Pees an ’ y 
- o a .  * ’ . 

4 I 


HEAVEN AND HOW TO GET THERE. 127 


the death of the righteous, and let my latter end be like 
his!” That soldier left a bright testimony in his tri- 
umphant departure. Will your latter end be cloudless 
like his? Is your name, like his, written in the Lamb’s 
book of life? 

In one of the hospitals during the war the doctor 
heard one of the soldiers exclaim loudly, 

“Here, here!” 

He ran up to his bedside, thinking he wanted some- 
thing. 

“What is it?” 

“They are calling the roll-call of heaven, and I was 
answering to my name.” 

At the last moments of his life his eves and ears were 
opened to the things of eternity. He lay back and ex- 
pired; he had gone to join the armies of God in the 


Oh, choose this day,—will you go to the home God 
has prepared for His own people? Will you join the 
band that is marching heavenward? Will you enroll 
your name in the Lamb’s book of life? Will you leave 
everything and “press toward the mark for the prize 
of our high calling” ? 

If you will, I am here to tell you that eternal glory 
awaits you. A crown of life will be yours. Jesus will 
receive you and usher you into the mansion He has 
prepared for you. See, heaven’s gates are open; the 
golden light is even now streaming down upon us! 
Won't you come, won’t you all come to yon heavenly 
home? Who will dare to refuse? 

Oh, may God in heaven grant that you all may be 
brought to His everlasting rest! “Eye hath not seen, 
nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of 
man, the things which God hath prepared for them that 
love Him.” 


vuv 9 19 
mee 7465 | 


Nov 7 49 | 
| 


yov22°7 dl 


Form 335. 45M 8-37. 


Sch.R. 269 M817F 515374 


Schoo! of Religion 


